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Extracts and Sketches 



FROM MY JOURNAL OF A 
YEARS TRAVEL IN THE 



Orient and Europe 



WITH THE USUAL EXPENSE, HOTEL MENU, 

TAILOR, MILLINERY AND SHOPPING 

ACCOUNTS OMITTED 



>. 



PEN DRAWINGS BY FREDRICK MALLISTER FROM ORIGINAL 
PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN ON THE JOURNEY 



-^ 



1 ST 



K vjp 1>%j 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Tv.-o Copies Received 
JAN 7 1909 

Copyriirnt Entry A 
&ASS oL XXc. No 




PREFACE. 

HE visit to foreign lands, made by my 
family and self, during the past year, was 
accompanied by such continued good luck 
in all respects that I can enjoy its remem- 
brance the more if I can but witness the 
satisfaction of having my friends, to whom 
it is a privilege to present this souvenir description, go 
with me over the most interesting paths where we have 
been and see, with us, some of the sights that we have 
seen. To those who have not been abroad, it would 
of course be of interest to start in with the departure 
signal of our steamer, November 14, 1907, for Liverpool, 
but the necessary limitation on the patience of those kind 
enough to honor this account with their attention, is such 
as to preclude all reference to common place experiences, 
which, as to those who know not what they are, lose 
nothing by their omission, and as to those who do know 
them, they would gain nothing by their statement. 

The notes on the pages of my Journal that are under- 
scored as special, I have selected. As to those you know 
about (and I assume there are a few that you may not 
know of), do not waste your time with them. If there 
are others, on which a new sidelight, either with a draw- 
ing or the pen is thrown, or a new feature is shown, it 
may be of interest for you to examine into and read at 
least a part of the same. 

I do not care, however, to guarantee that your 
trouble will yield you any dividend, but if it does not, 
I am sure by this gratituous offering you will not sus- 
tain a pecuniary loss, to say the least. 



DEDICATION 

This journal is affectionately dedicated to my beloved wife 
and our dear mother, Mrs. L. S. Northrup, who so much 
contributed to the inexpressible delight of this charming journey. 
It is intended for their EXCLUSIVE use and that of friends, 
to whom it is a valued privilege to present the same as an 
humble souvenir of the NEW YEAR, 1909. 

JOHN M. GARDNER. 




CHAPTER I. 

England. 

F"JslE embarked safely at Liverpool about 9 
A. M., from the steamer "Celtic" and once 
more we pressed the soil of our forefathers. 
The approach to the port is for several 
hours up the Mercy River, narrow and 
winding in and out, here and there with 
more or less populous towns and cities of an industrial 
and commercial appearance skirting its shores. Our 
sojourn in England was about two weeks, visiting only 
Liverpool, Chester and London, at an unseasonable period 
of the year, when the natural beauty and rural attrac- 
tiveness of the country were displaced by a cheerless 
climate and sunless skies. 

While many incidents in business and street life and 
language and habits of the English people interest one 
as being much different from our own country, and never 
fail to excite the keenest curiosity, and set at work the 
involuntary sense of unconscious comparison of new and 
strange things and customs with those at home, and with 
which we are familiar, we will mention only a few, which 
to some extent illustrate the substantial difference in the 
national life of two great English speaking peoples. 
First of all is noticeable in England a strong tendency 
and adherence to formality and ceremony in private and 
public life, and while the social and official life of all 
countries exhibit more or less observance of conven- 
tionality in such matters, it is true, yet, the British are 
especially intolerant of any laxity in its public or social 
functions or change from those of ancient origin. A 



Judges in wigs and 
gowns with Sheriff 
in red, attending 
Court. 



few observations noted at the time will demonstrate this 
fact. 

Opposite our hotel in Liverpool is the public building 
called St. George's Hall, in which among other things, 
the Court of Assizes for the city and county are quar- 
terly held, presided over by two or three judges accord- 
ing to the number of parts required by the amount of 
criminal business to be transacted. 

The blowing of a bugle about noon in front of our 
room, and the sudden array of a dozen personages in 
high white hats, blue coats with brass buttons and 
knickerbockers, sword in hand, walked forth with the 
pompous show of military erectness. Following these 
guards were two honorable judges of the circuit holding 
the Court, approaching their carriage, which was await- 
ing their august presence. Long white wigs of lamb's 
wool, hung down a foot or more over their shoulders, 
hanging from and covering the tops of their heads, which 
were hatless. They were wrapped in long robes of red 
with strips of white ermine in front. Behind them was 
the High Sheriff of the County, hatless, with scarlet red 
coat and black pants, accompanied by several liveried 
attendants. The carriage was a beautiful heavy coach in 
white, constructed on the lines of an old royal coach 
of State, used centuries ago, and, before it, were four 
prancing steeds of graceful form well groomed, har- 
nessed in trappings of burnished brass. The driver and 
footman were dressed in knickerbockers with wigs and 
brass buttons. As the stately procession of guards, 
judges, sheriff and attendants walked majestically to the 
carriage from the Court, to the music of the bugle, the 
crowd separated for their passage. On entering the car- 
riage, judges first, and sheriff after, and the closing of 
the massive doors, the great whip snapped and the champ. 



guards. 



ing four-in-hand wheeled about and into, and up the 
street with a clatter of hoofs and jingle of trappings 
that made an automobile seem like a push cart in style 
and go, beside this exhibition of pomp and luxury. 

On the Sunday following, we attended the Pro 
Cathedral, the oldest house of worship in Liverpool, a 
small and picturesque pile of crumbling stone in the 
center of the great commercial city. 

Just before the commencement of the service the 
same coach drove up at the entrance, accompanied by 
the same attendant and guards, and containing the same 
distinguished occupants. They alighted, pompous with 
wig and woolsack, and majestically walked to a pew 
inside, preceded and followed by the usual guards and 

attendants, with the high sheriff decorated in red, he Worship in wool- 
being the commander of the guards, with staff in hand. sac ^ J and Wlgs w 

After all were settled and seated in due and formal 
style, the service commenced, and we felt that, at last 
before the altar of Christ every one appeared humble 
and suppliant as simple souls and followers of, and de- 
pendent upon Him our Shepherd in whose fold we all 
were, the wig and wigless, woolsacked and woolsackless 
alike. The observance of this strange but picturesque 
and solemn ceremony, with which the coming and depar- 
ture from Court and church of these honorable justices 
is of very ancient origin, preceding the Cromwellian 
period, and since uninterruptedly and universally fol- 
lowed. 

Its primary purpose was. and still is, to invest the 
judiciary with the utmost dignity and impress the sub- 
jects of the empire with the official importance of its 
judicial ministers in whose hands their vast and sacred 
rights of person and property are jealously guarded and 
maintained. 



Social rules omit 
introduction of 
mutual friends, at 
home, unless 
requested. 



In further illustration of the conspicuous tendency of 
the English people to the strictest formality in social mat- 
ters as well as official, I can not refrain from noting an 
experience at the home of very dear friends of ours in 
London, upon whom we called to excuse and explain in 
person the non-acceptance of a very cordial invitation to 
dine. When reaching their home, we were asked into 
their drawing room to see them and exchange cordial 
greetings after several years of absence from one another. 
In the room were some good friends of theirs with whom 
they were conversing, and yet, curiously enough, they 
turned from them, warmly greeted us in their immediate 
presence, asked us to be seated ; and we did so, apparently 
as guests in common. The conversation continued 
between us all before leaving the room after half hour's 
visit, although we were not introduced to their guests. 
We could not attribute this omission to observe the usual 
habit with us of a formal introduction to any lack of 
respect, for, whether good or bad, we had been com- 
plimented by a most hearty solicitation to dine with 
them as the result of a warm friendship for years between 
us, evidenced by many cordial tokens of its sincerity. 
On the other hand, we knew their guests were of high 
social standing from what we learned after their depar- 
ture, and for whom they entertained the highest regard. 
We learned, however, from reliable sources, that it is 
one of the social rules of the English to omit a formal 
introduction of mutual friends in many cases of informal 
functions, unless one or the other express a desire accord- 
ingly. 

The same formality of intercourse is quite observ- 
able in all the hotels and other public places. At the 
hotel where we stopped in Liverpool, the largest in the 
city, and accommodating several hundred guests, most 



8 



of whom were transients, and where in our country 
bustle and conversational clattering in and about drawing 
and dining rooms would be expected and experienced, 
we could scarcely discern a noise or the sound of a voice 
above a whisper. Although in the dining room at din- 
ner and lunch at least ioo or more small or family 
groups, we heard no voice and all was as grave, solemn 
and silent as though a funeral service were in progress. 
The waiters too, attired in immaculate dress, were ex- 
tremely quiet in their service, moving and gliding about 
noiselessly with agility and closest attention to their work 
in hand over carpeted floors. The effect, at once, of 
this silence is invariably to deeply impress one, that he 
is in a place where conversation above a whisper or 
laughing aloud, is strictly prohibited by the unwritten 
law of the management, an infringement of which would 
be visited by serious consequences, or social disgrace, . . , , . 
with the result that he unconsciously as a respectful guest, a ser ious offense, 
falls in line with the rest, loses his tongue and pro- 
ceeds forthwith to utilize his teeth and elbows. The 
respectful attention of the waiters in English hotels, their 
immaculate appearance, the quiet atmosphere and the 
almost oppressive silence and conventionality, pervading 
in their dining and drawing rooms, evince in no small 
degree the strong proclivity of the people as a nation to 
social ceremony. The conditions alluded to we experi- 
enced in all the hotels at which we were guests, while 
in fact, it can be safely assumed they are of quite univer- 
sal prevalence throughout all England. 

The people are not flashy and pretentious, but quiet 
and reserved in all classes and conditions of life as they 
appear to a traveler in their midst. Moreover, they 
manifest a most cordial and sincere friendship and 
warmth of attachment when once the cold ice of formality 

9 



is broken and you become acquainted with them. 
Whether the pomp of public ceremony and social exclu- 
siveness characterizing the national life of the country and 
distinguishing it perhaps from any other, except Spain, 
are conducive to the welfare and culture of its subjects 
and strength of its government, may be a topic which 
evokes difference of opinion. It is not the purpose of 
these notes to enter upon the field of political discussion, 
or philosophic discourse concerning the right or wrong 
of the nation's characteristics, to which we have referred. 
Speaking from a personal point of view, however, I can 
not refrain from an expression of great admiration for 
the respect which British subjects show to public officials, 
and the jealous regard and high esteem in which they 
hold the law and which in no small measure the ceremony 
attending the presence of its judicial ministers, no doubt, 
excite. 

As to social etiquette, whose code of laws is equally 
enforced and uniformly respected and with as much 
severity as the civil statutes, I do not think it on the whole 
so contributive to the happiness of the people as might 
result from more freedom of intercourse. Familiarity 
breeds contempt, is an old saying, and a true one ; but, 
on the other hand, extreme formality may and often 
does make one seem contemptuously ridiculous. This is 
in no instance better illustrated than two persons occu- 
pying a railway carriage seat all day, as I witnessed on 
one occasion, between two Englishmen, both appearing 
equally respectable and yet not exchanging one word. 
This attitude of extreme treatment of each other made 
it appear that each esteemed the other too high or too 
low to address and that each was content to be wrapped 
up in his own cloak of selfish loneliness. It is the work 
of a gentleman to recognize in a respectful way those 



10 



in whose presence circumstances of travel, or conditions 
of life he is compelled to be placed. This recognition 
may not extend further than a pleasant word of salutation 
or kindly assistance when opportunity presents itself, 
but to come short of this stamps the wilful offender 
of the rule to be a person who merits condemnation as a 
social autocrat. 

It is safe to assume that there are at least in Eng- 
land and Scotland fifty great reversionary companies, 
possessing billions of capital, if not at least several 
hundred millions, employed by these, companies as spec- 
ulative investments, on lines directly opposite the great 
life insurance companies of this country. Here capital 
is invested in the hundreds of millions of dollars for this 
purpose. A mutual life insurance company, as an illus- 
tration, solicits Mr. Jackson, for a life insurance. He is 
singled out by it as a reasonably safe subject for spec- 
ulation on his life, and it submits to him this gambling 
proposition ; that, being twenty-five years of age and in 
sound health, if he will pay $1,000 a year for a given 
length of time, and he should die before, his estate 
will receive $25,000. This is a simple wager; in fact, 
the amount of money the company will get from 
him will exceed what they pay back, based upon the 
probable longevity of his life. Jackson has a neighbor 
of the same age, but afflicted with some incurable disease. 
The company knowing it, shuns him and wouldn't take 
the risk of an insurance on his life for five cents. In 
fact, the company passes the neighbor by. In contrast 
with this, if Jackson and his neighbor lived in London, 
the Equitable Reversionery Society of that city would 
pass Jackson by and hunt for his neighbor to do business 
with. The neighbor would be the desirable life, at least, 
with which to deal, under the following circumstances. 
If an estate was dependent upon the life of the neighbor, 



Purchase of vested 
estates a great 
business, but 
unknown here. 



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that is, as soon as he should die, A should come into 
possession of his estate, then the company would spec- 
ulate entirely upon the life of the neighbor by purchasing 
from A the estate, the value of which would depend upon 
the probable length of the neighbor's life. In this way, 
the life of the neighbor is made the subject of com- 
mercial value and financial speculation, and in the case 
of the reversionery company, the sooner he would die, 
the more they would make. 

This so-called reversionary business is more than one 
hundred and fifty years old in England, and has grown 
to such large dimensions that it is looked upon universally 
as legitimate, more prosperous, and is as well known as 
the life or fire insurance, yet strange to say, that in this 
country of ours, although matchless as it is in its enter- 
prises, commerce and nervous activity in all departments 
of business, with its universal habit of adopting any and 
all speculative methods whereby rapidly to increase the 
wealth of individual investors, yet such a company here 
as a reversionery company is unknown, and the very word 
meaningless. 

No visitor to England should omit a visit to Strat- 
ford, as illustrating a quiet, old historic place, with its 
setting in a most beautiful country. This town is char- 
acteristic of so many English villages, containing beauty 
and history. Shakespeare's parents immortalized it by 
honoring the place with the birth of their distinguished 
son, while Ann Hathaway, and her cottage, have been 
forever linked to fame by the courtship indulged within 
its portals between herself and the young English bard. 



13 



CHAPTER II. 
France. 




HE stranger at a good Nice hotel at Christ- 
mas Eve is made at home. They seem to 
invest the atmosphere there with a spiritual 
and temporary suggestion of the day, as 
nowhere else it has been our opportunity to 
observe. The dinner at the "Angleterre" 
was served in as an elaborate and elegant a way as could 
be, with the most formal and private function. Standing 
out the brightest of all festive occasions during our so- 
journ was this Christmas dinner. It was served in a most 
beautiful but tastily decorated dining room, splendidly 
lighted with specially prepared electric effects, amidst 
banks of roses and flowers, cut fresh from the open 
bushes, blooming everywhere. These, with the luxurious 
red carpets and rich linens and Yule Tide music, together 
with the great Christmas tree, loaded down with brilliant 
hangings united with the unsurpassed menu of turkey and 
seasonable delicacies, all created a lasting impression. 

If one is to be away from his friends in a foreign 
land on this day of days, far removed from the smiles 
and good wishes of his friends, it is their good fortune, 
if then, they can be a guest at a Nice hotel. 

Often extra pains are taken to increase perhaps the 
variety and quality of a hotel menu on holidays, but 
none that I ever heard of, go so far as to make the dinner 
a sumptuous state affair for the special benefit of the 
guests, without extra charge, in celebration of the day. 

The guests from various countries vied with each 
other to mark their table with some distinctive national 

14 



manifestation by flag, fruit or flower. We started off in 
the morning in quest of our trophy and found amidst 
the mountain sides, nearby, an American maple tree, the 
only one I ever saw in Europe, growing wild, bedecked 
with golden hued, yellow leaves. We secured several 
large branches, and at our table the golden foliage of 
America's most beautiful tree was blended with the blush- 
ing roses of France. 

Although advised by learned historians of the moral 
and intellectual strength of the French, as a nation, the 
truth of which is indicated by their wonderful history 
in matters of art, finance, industry and their evolution- 
ary methods of freeing themselves, the first amongst the 
continental countries of Europe, from the grinding yoke 
of imperial slavery, I was nevertheless, from the obser- 
vations made of the people and their habits in Paris, 
not inclined to give them this credit as a nation. The 
easy Parisian caffe life and almost universal tendency 
to habits of gaiety and dissipation that the vast majority 
of the inhabitants of Paris, together with their emotional 
and equivocal mentality exhibit everywhere, in all depart- 
ments of life, always impressed me with wonder how 
such a people could accomplish such mighty results as is 
credited to them in matters of art, industry, military 
achievements and political disenslavement from the iron 
rule of the most oppressive and powerful monarchy in 
the history of the world. My mind, however, became 
disabused of all these questionings on a visit to the inte- 
rior towns of the nation and among the peasant life. 
There is to be found the key to the true French char- 
acter, and not in Paris. 

Upon its boundless plains, with their inexhaustible 
fertility and richness of soil, thickly inhabited by a 
thrifty, strong class of tillers of the land, dotted every- 



American maple 
leaves blend with 
the roses of 
France at Christmas 
dinner. 



15 



where, here and there, with villages and hamlets, evinc- 
ing on every hand agricultural and industrial prosperity, 
one finds a race of men and women unsurpassed in phy- 
sical stature and native strength characterized by intel- 
ligent, peaceful and industrial habits of life. This affords 
an easy explanation for the great history that the nation 
has. To illustrate : I visited the city of Troyes, about 
one hundred miles southeast of Paris. This is a city con- 
taining perhaps about fifty thousand inhabitants, in the 
midst of a very rich country, where the land is closely cul- 
tivated with vineyards and grain fields. To this place 
tourists seldom, if ever, go. The city is old, rivaling 
even Neuremberg in the antiquity of many of its struc- 
tures and classic picturesqueness of their half fallen down 
appearance which the gradual settlement of ages has 
effected. Three good hotels were in the city. Either one 
of them would rival, if not surpass in comfort and inte- 
rior elegance, hotels in cities of equal size in our own 
country. 

At the hotel at which I stopped there were none but 
French guests, mostly commercial travelers. As a class 
of men, I specially noted their large physical statues, 
generally straight and erect, not the bowlegged, small, 
goateed, effiminate physical characteristics that we see 
so frequently in Paris. 

The people on the streets in Troyes answer to the 
description of the guests at the hotel. More beautiful 
stores, I can say with much assurance, are in Troyes 
than can be found in any city of equal size in America, 
of all kinds. The merchants, plying their various trades, 
and the clerks in the stores, both men and women, were 
healthy in appearance, having an air of independence and 
that peaceful freedom which distinguishes the mental 
spirit from that which a person, conscious of his power 

16 



and equality always evinces. I had been taught that it 
was only abroad in the English character to be found 
that firery spark of freedom and love of fair play which 
culminated in magna charta and the development of prac- 
tically democratic England of to-day. I must confess 
however, that, in the true French character as found 
in its interior cities and hamlets and upon its plains, 
there is less menial conduct and more independent and 
self reliant mentality exhibited, than is found in classes 
of equal station in England and Ireland, although I 
would not say Scotland. From Troyes I went twenty 
miles through the country to visit the little village on the 
plains of Brienne, where the great Napoleon received 
his first military inspirations as a student for five years. 
All the way was a beautiful road, graded with as much 
precision as the finest railway, of macadamized surface 
and as smooth as rubber. 

On each side of this beautiful road all the way were 
great trees, shading it and making it a fine park drive. 
As far as the eye could see in all directions was rich 
land farms, luxuriant in the growth of all sorts of veg- 
etation, grains and vineyards. Now and then we would 
pass through small hamlets or farming villages, contain- 
ing from two hundred to five hundred inhabitants, in 
which the streets were immaculately clean, the houses 
well painted, the stores well filled and the hum of industry 
and the glare of thrift everywhere apparent. It was 
my special curiosity to stop and converse along the way 
now with a brawny bared-arm blacksmith at the anvil, 
enough to get his notions of life and a reflection of his 
inner soul, then with the merchants to get their ideas of 
trade, of the master wine maker, the farmer and the 
village school teacher to see if I could detect that spark 
of freedom, courage, independence, practical turn of mind 



Blacksmith at anvil 
and farmers in the 
fields, reflect the 
soul of France. 



17 




§ 2 
•3 « 



and industrial inclination which must necessarily lay at 
the foundation of a great nation's history, if it has any. 
I found none of them wanting, and I discovered to my 
complete satisfaction, the secret of the mighty French 
revolution, culminating in the overthrow of the Bourbons 
as well as the establishment of the greatest military power 
as a nation that the world has ever seen, under the genius 
of the great Napoleon. 

The prowess of this people and its armies, from 
1797 to 1814, eclipses in its power and splendor the grasp 
of the Romans under the Caesars or the Greeks under 
Alexander, and sinks into insignificance by comparison, 
the conquests of the Persians under Darius or Xerxes. 

In fact, a nation whose military arm was so strong, 
covering a period of nearly twenty years, to plant its 
banner on the highest pinnacle of military power achieved 
in the history of man, overrunning and subduing ten 
great powerful kingdoms and empires, whose combined 
wealth and armies were swept before them like chaff 
before the wind, battling for equality and human free- 
dom, must necessarily possess qualities of courage, inde- 
pendence and directness of purpose, which might well 
challenge investigation and forces the admiration of the 
world. Although their rule was comparatively short, yet 
it was tremendously long, when it is considered that it 
took the combined wealth, armies and navies of the 
principal nations of Europe with their millions of bay- 
onets, twenty years to restore Louis upon the throne. 

It is true that their invincible leader may have clutched 
the tri-colored flag at the bridge of Lodi and been the 
first to unfurl its folds amidst the smoke of battle, yet, 
without the heart and bravery of his followers, facing 
death with irresistible courage in the cause of human 
liberty and equality, the arms of the powerful Austrians 



While Napoleon led 
at Lodi, his fol- 
lowers were the 
conquerors. 



19 



would not have been taken and their guns silenced amidst 
a scene of carnage recorded among the bloodiest in 
history. 

While it is true also that it was an overpowering 
genius which conceived the scaling of the Alps with a 
great army under the most adverse circumstances, and 
by deceptive manceuvers and the most careful prepara- 
tions known in military history, unequalled in boldness of 
design and perfection of execution, culminating in the 
great victory of Marengo, yet without an army composed 
of Frenchmen of bravery, endurance and deathlike devo- 
tion to the human cause by them represented, victory 
would not have perched upon the banners of the French 
and Marengo placed amidst the most brilliant of Napo- 
leon's triumphs. 



20 




CHAPTER III. 

Napoleonic Monuments. 

HE foregoing observations, pertaining to the 
former grandeur of the first French empire, 
suggests the thought of the conspicuous and 
strange absence of all monuments to mark 
the mightiest battles ever fought. Who is it 
that has never heard of Montennotte, Rivoli, 
Castiglione, Areola, Bassano, Lodi and Mondovi, on 
the great battle fields of which Napoleon with his French 
cohorts in the first Italian campaign, drove to bay, the 
Austrians under Beaulieu and Wurmser and annihiliated 
the Sardinian army, co-operating with the Austrians? 
And yet, no monument is found upon any of these fields, 
excepting a dilapidated heap of stones on Rivoli over- 
grown with weeds and a small head marker at the bridge 
of Areola and Castiglione. From a military point of view, 
these battles will go down in history two thousand four 
hundred years hence, as have come to us the story of 
Marathon and Thermopylae. This is due not only to the 
originality of manceuvers, unequalled generalship of the 
young Napoleon and the matchless endurance and devo- 
tional courage of his army, contending against the most 
fearful odds, but especially because it was the initial 
struggle upon European soil to sever the bonds of monar- 
chial slavery, the influence of which was to deal a deadly 
blow, we hope, forever, upon this dread enemy of human 
liberty. 

Austerlitz, Wagram, Eylau, Friedland and Marengo 
have already become classic in military and general his- 
tory, the very names of which are synonymous with 
French glory, and overwhelming defeat of powerful 
enemies. 

21 



The ones living on 
the field of Aus- 
terlitz, never heard 
of battle. 



Moreover, upon these sanguinary fields hundreds of thou- 
sands of lives were sacrificed, and each one of these 
struggle grounds during the progress of battle was under 
a sea of blood, yet even now, although but one hundred 
years have elapsed since their occurrence, still the peas- 
ants who live upon farms where the thickest of the 
fight occurred, do not know that such battles ever took 
place. Upon the field of Austerlitz, which I visited with 
a carriage, having travelled nearly twenty miles over 
country to do so, I found no monument to mark the field 
known as the "battle of the three emperors," the only 
one of its kind in ancient or modern history. Not only 
will this great event be immortalized by the bravery and 
skill of the combatants, as well as the odds against which 
the French had to contend, the Austrians and Rus- 
sians combined, at no time has the world presented so 
grand a spectacle as three great nations meeting in a 
death grapple upon a common field of battle, two against 
one, under the generalship and personal direction of their 
respective sovereigns. So great was the issue involved 
and fatal to the destiny of themselves, as well as all 
Europe, that the ordinary method of warfare was not 
pursued. The sovereigns did not trust their generals, 
but commanded in person and marshalled every possible 
resource upon that sanguinary field for victory. The only 
way to identify the field of battle is by the official maps 
on file in Paris, St. Petersburgh and Vienna. 

There is a structure, an old windmill, where Napo- 
leon's headquarters were, still in existence, weather beaten 
and bowing with age, standing in the midst of a great 
wheat field, a sketch of which is herewith produced. It was 
here after a great battle that Emperor Francis, of Austria, 
and Alexander, of Russia, implored the conqueror for 
terms of peace. When they rode up in state, surrounded 



22 




fc g 



ed 

a" 

oj 
01 



by their brilliant array of attendants and guards, Napo- 
leon went worth from the little old structure and 
addressed his defeated adversaries thus : "I am sorry 
to receive you, your excellencies, in this, the only palace 
I have inhabited for the last tzvo days," whereupon, said 
Francis, "no matter, you have made good use of this 
windmill palace during the time you have occupied it." 
Speaking to the occupant of the farm, an intelligent Ger- 
man, about the incident, he informed me that he had 
lived there eleven years and had never heard of the battle 
field of Austerlitz ! This illustrates forcibly the point of 
observation now being made that it is a burning shame 
that the nations of Europe should place no mark upon the 
fields where legions of their countrymen fell in the cause 
of their country, and to permit thousands of tons of their 
bones to be crumbling to mother earth, without even 
as much as a simple headstone to distinguish their rest- 
ing places. The omission to do this is actuated by an 
unholy pride of the defeated country. A monument, no 
matter what its inscription by the enemy of the French, 
would read in silent language : "Here is a Held of 
French glory." That is the secret of this shameful neglect. 

It has been my privilege to follow Napoleon's tracks 
in person in his every campaign, commencing with the 
Italian in 1797, and ending with the Belgian in 1815, on 
this journey. 

I have witnessed where the French assaulted Abukir, 
also where the brave five thousand, at the foot of the 
Pyramids, faced, repulsed and annihiliated sixty thou- 
sand mamelukes, the bravest in history, excepting the 
Cossacks of Russian fame. 

I have witnessed their winding path from Cairo to 
Jaffa in the Holy Lands, over the sandy deserts of 
Egypt, and amid the rich plains of Palestine. I have 



25 




Bridge of Areola. 
Italy. 

(Prom our original photograph.) 



also ridden over their line of march from Jaffa, through 
the historic and Biblical plain of Sharon, up to the very 
walls of Acre, famous in history, where a great siege 
was conducted by the French against the Turks. From 
there, eastward, I have gone over the mountains and 
through the valleys, emerging upon the plain of 
Esdraeleon, at the foot of Mt. Tabor, and there witnessed 
the place which was the scene of the bloodiest strife in 
the Syrian campaign, in which six thousand French 
under Napoleon repelled an assault of forty thousand 
Turks and Arabs and practically annihiliated them at 
the very foot of the Mount of Transfiguration. I, too, 
have been upon every battle field of the Austrian and 
German campaigns of 1806, 1807 and 1809 and witnessed 
as well the awful fields in which the campaign of 18 14 
(winter and spring) took place, where Napoleon with 
but a handful of men at Mont Marial, Mont Reau, Cham- 
perbeaux, Vauchamps, Arcissuraub and Brienne, met, 
whipped, scattered and sent back the armed hosts of all 
Europe. Upon all these battle fields, which it has been 
my privilege to visit with map and history in hand (which 
in fact includes all that this mighty warrior fought except 
Borodino), I have seen but three monuments, to wit: a 
small marker at the bridge of Areola, a column at Mont 
Marial and Champerbeaux erected by Emporor Napo- 
leon, the Third, and a head-stone at Marengo and 
Castiglione. 

These monuments or markers are all so insignificant 
as to be unnoticeable by a passerby, excepting those at 
Mont Marial and Champerbeaux commemorating one and 
the same battle. 

At Eylau, the Germans in 1906, erected a small mon- 
ument or stone, and upon it is the misleading inscription 
which would indicate to a stranger that it is here where 
Napoleon met defeat ; a most scandalous innuendo. This 



Nothing but one 
small monument and 
two headstones mark 
Napoleon's victories. 



27 




Headquarters, Napoleon. 

Montmirail. 
(From our original photograph.) 




Headquarters, Napoleon. 

Jena. 
(From our original photograph.) 




Tree from which Napoleon directed the battle of Eylau. 

Germany. 

(From our original photograph.) 



seems to be in a secluded part of the field where, during 
the progress of operations, there was a setback to one or 
two regiments of the line, overpowered temporarily by 
the overwhelming rush of the enemy. A lone tree to 
the left, however, looking northward about two miles 
distant, still standing, mostly branchless because of age, 
is the traditional one in which Napoleon climbed and 
viewed with serene eye, the awful struggle of the embat- 
tled hosts and directed the manceuvers of his own divi- 
sions, with such skill and which were executed with such 
matchless bravery that the battle was won, and again the 
Germans and Russians were sadly defeated. It is our 
pleasure therefore to exhibit herewith that grand old his- 
toric tree, from the summit of which the mightiest mili- 
tary genius of all ages played with the brilliancy and 
force of lightning on that momentous occasion, and struck 
with as deadly a blow as that terrible element of nature 
could, the powerful enemy against whom he was contend- 
ing. Again, at the great field of Jena, where a battle was 
fought enabling the French army to enter triumphantly 
the walls of Berlin and to drive from their imperial pal- 
aces their emperor and his court, there is nothing to 
mark the field in the way of a monument whatever. There 
is, however, a slight patch work of brick, across which 
and near which is a wooden seat, near the upper extremity 
of that awful gorge from the plain below to the plateau 
above, where it is located, through which the almost im- 
possible act of the French was performed by reaching 
there in the night, to surprise the enemy in the morning. 
This patch work, or seat, marks the place according to the 
official maps, near or on which Napoleon stood and had 
his headquarters during the battle. But few visitors 
come to this place, and fewer still know on what part of 
the vast surrounding country the field of operations was. 



31 



When there, I met a fellow American of studious turn of 
mind, who had come many miles in a carriage to view the 
place. He in common with myself had been sent there by 
the villagers in Jena, below, and told that somewhere 
upon the great plains above was where the battle took 
place. As my companion and myself sat upon this bench, 
we could not help but reflect upon the awfulness of war, 
and to think, that, though there may not be shafts of 
granite or Waterloo mounds of dirt to give to coming 
generations an account of the place, yet so long as human 
history will be written and the German empire ranked 
among the nations of the world, the most prominent fact 
in all its story will be the one by which the French guns 
and bayonets upon the bloody field of Jena drove their 
emperor and court from their palaces and forced them 
across the Neimen as refugees, fleeing to their Russian 
protectors. 



32 




Only marker at Castiglione. 

Italy. 
(From our original photograph.) 



CHAPTER IV. 




Egypt. 

E arrived in the land of the Pharaohs in the 
midst of a winter month, but a summer 
climate. The part which first met our 
observation was the city of Alexandria, 
founded by, and named after the great 
genius, who, with Napoleon and Caesar, 
have immortalized themselves for ages, as the trio of 
military stars, whose unequaled brilliancy intensifies with 
the march of time. As the blaze of glory, by which 
ancient Egypt illuminated the whole world, licked forth 
from its temples and pyramidal tombs, palaces and 
thrones, and by which its life, history, art and power were 
reflected, are not existent along the Mediterranean, but 
found in the valley of the classic Nile, commencing at 
Memphis and ending at Assuan, our sojourn at this inter- 
esting city was only sufficiently long to acquaint ourselves 
in a limited way, with the modern appearance, customs 
and ways of the country, for which the city affords a 
fair introduction. 

The first type and suggestion of oriental life and cus- 
toms which a traveler from the West, embarking upon 
a direct route to Egypt gets, are presented to him at 
Alexandria. Here the turban and sandal, different col- 
ored shirts, wide breeches, cloaks or blankets, and flowing 
robes of various colors, worn alike by peasant and Sheik, 
together with their dark or brownish complexion, make a 
scene, whose brilliancy and attractiveness are dependent 
upon the cleanliness of the costume and the person of its 
wearer. The dress of the European and American, or 



Brilliant and pictur- 
esque costumes of 
the Orient. 



35 



Mohammedan 
women, forever 
veiled from men, 
in what look like 
shrouds of death. 



so-called inhabitants of the West, are never seen upon 
the native population, and since the foreign sojourners 
in this strange land are very few, scarcely any apparel 
is seen anywhere except the turban or fez, and flowing 
gown. 

Here, too, is first seen the mysterious ghost-like 
specter of the Mohammedan faith, the form of a woman 
erect in stature always, over whose head is the black 
robe or veil, flowing down and hung from the head and 
covering the whole body, like a shroud of death, except 
a slight opening of a few inches about the eyes. Even 
this window is closed nearly tight, when that awful crea- 
ture, man, good or bad, young or old, rich or poor, 
angelic or demoniacal, passes near her holy presence ; 
and, in order that she may be steered straight, in the 
walks of life and not swerved, she is yoked with a spool 
between her eyes, which rests on the bridge of her nose, 
so that, if one eye sees evil, the other may not. Deluded 
defenders of the prophet, consigned to eternal bondage, 
too low and degraded, even to be seen outside their homes, 
unless buried in a dark shroud, either too good or too 
bad to frown upon, or speak to living man and against 
whom the vengeance of the most high will be wrecked, 
if seen in the public gaze. May the just God who created 
them for life, liberty and happiness, free them by an 
early death, and visit the strong judgment of retribution 
upon those responsible for their fanatical slavery and 
mournful wretchedness. 

Here, too, in Alexandria, do we first see the mosques, 
which everywhere in Egypt, attest the almost universal 
worship of Mahomet. They are, here as elsewhere, large 
and small, differing architecturally, except the central 
dome, and spindel shaped minaret are ever present. To 
the credit of their worshippers, it is observed that their 



36 



wealth has not been exhausted in construction of the 
places of worship as is too frequently the case in Chris- 
tian countries. 

In some respects their ceremony is most reverent and 
religiously rational, as is said to be the Koran, their 
monitor of life, the exposition of their faith and guide to 
heaven. The rule of silent prayer and meditation when 
within the portals of their sacred shrine, and cleanliness 
and decorum of worship is illustrated by the universal 
requisition that no one may enter the temple, however 
humble or great, unless with specially prepared slippers 
or overshoes, adjusted by the door attendant in order 
that the same may not be defiled. 

That all sect or creed dogmas or differences that may 
prevail among the followers of the prophet in matters 
of technical construction or practices are subordinated 
to the central worship and adoration of but one God, is 
emphasized by the fact, that under the central dome of 
their temple all are allowed to kneel, and with uplifted 
eyes, acknowledge his presence and proclaim his great- 
ness, a privilege not too liberally bestowed or enjoyed by 
the orthodox church of Him, who created the Christian 
religion, but did not formulate its practiced worship. 

The oriental custom of selling wares and manufac- 
turing small articles of apparel and jewelry is also first 
observed here in miles of its curious bazaars. They con- 
sist chiefly of long, winding, narrow streets, or lanes, 
averaging only from ten to fifteen feet wide, with small 
stores or rather recesses, a few feet square, built in the 
street, and where is carried on the sale and manufacture 
of small articles of every conceivable kind, from shoes 
to a watch chain. The density of population in these 
narrow lanes of all sorts and ages and conditions, from 
the wealthiest natives and tourists to the poorest, almost 



No mosque temple 
entered without 
slippers or bare feet. 



37 



cladless natives, with every kind of brilliant apparel, jum- 
bled in with horses, camels, donkeys, dogs, hens, goats and 
sheep, in places made riotous with the shouts of vendors 
crying aloud their wares, and to an unaccustomed ear 
seems angry confusion, and interests a stranger perhaps 
more than any other aspect of Egyptian life. These 
bazaars are found in all the principal towns and cities of 

Egypt- 
Egypt has been accredited as being the cradle of the 
civilization of the world. One in America, or elsewhere, 
not having visited the land of the Pharaohs is quite apt 
to get an impression that it consists mostly of waste and 
desert land, w r ith a few old mouldering temples and tombs, 
with now and then an occasional tablet or inscription 
which faintly voices the history of the past, but this 
is all a mistake. No more fertile valley in the world 
exists than that of the Nile, stretching from its delta 
terminus, near Alexandria, and extending southward as 
far as Assuan, the place of the first cataract. The Nile 
is not, as sometimes supposed, a mud creek, but is a great 
navigable stream, upon which for most of the distance 
large steamers most of the year can ply. It varies in 
width from one-half to three miles. Unlike any other 
river, it has no tributaries flowing into it from mountain 
sides or adjoining valleys. This great valley extends on 
either side of the river, at least as far as Luxor, several 
hundred miles south. This valley varies in width, extend- 
ing on either side of the river from three to seven miles. 
Skirting the valley are two great ranges of mountains, 
which are treeless, being but great lime stone rocks and 
running almost parallel with each other, north and south, 
presenting to the eye, when seen from a steamer, a 
very picturesque sight. Thus is seen, on either side, the 
green, luxurious valley, and off in the distance, piercing 

38 



the blue, cloudless skies, these great ranges of mountains, 
which seem to run as regularly and continuously as the 
river itself. There is much that interested us about the 
great pyramids of Gizeh, near Cairo, one-half hour's 
ride therefrom, and looming up in the distance a few miles 
from the city, with a picturesqueness and grandeur seldom 
witnessed anywhere. We thought, when contemplating 
these vast structures, erected by human hands several 
thousands of years B. C, upon geometrical lines as per- 
fect as human genius could make them to-day, that there 
we had found Egypt's greatest point of interest and its 
most interesting monuments of antiquity. In fact, we 
believe that the traveler generally is thus impressed, 
when one has not penetrated farther into the interior 
of this classic country. Many are therefore influenced 
to go no further, and to be content with looking upon 
the monument of Cheops, erected to immortalize himself, 
and to view the Sphinx, partly buried beneath the hot 
sands, with its broken nose and ears. They, too, are con- 
tent with visiting at Sakkara, the tombs of the sacred 
bulls, and old Memphis nearby, with the prostrate statue 
of Rameses II of colossal size, lying under the shade of a 
palm grove. 

It is true that these of themselves are witnesses suffi- 
cient to convince the mind of the glory of the first 
dynasties. 

CAIRO. 

Of course, although Cairo is eight or nine hundred 
years old, it is considered a modern city in Egypt, as 
compared with many other places of modern growth. In 
fact, it has no interest as a city of antiquities, but is fast 
becoming the great social center for Europeans in winter. 
Noticeable among the first, and greatest disappointments, 
experienced by us in Cairo was the cold, disagreeable 



The pyramids link 
19th century to 
remote antiquity. 



39 



and frequent drizzles of rain, and this was in the month 
of January. It is generally supposed, by information 
derived from current literature on the subject, largely 
disseminated by steamship, railroad and tourist compa- 
nies, that Egypt in the winter has continuous porcelain 
blue skies, cloudless, rainless, with a warm and balmy 
atmosphere and a truly tropical climate. This reads well 
on paper, but does not materialise to the visitor. Neither 
can it be said that the season of 1908 was exceptional. 
All the inhabitants with whom I talked united in the state- 
ment that it has been invariably disagreeable in winter 
for the last fifteen or twenty years. This is directly due 
to the fact that the immense amount of irrigation by 
artificial means, from the great dams at Assuan and 
other places, has so greatly increased the surface area 
of water and corresponding increase of vegetation, that 
moisture in the atmosphere has of recent years greatly 
increased. When a law of nature produces a plant, that 
same law will preserve its life until full development, and 
will therefore create the moisture which is necessary to 
its sustenance. Again, although Cairo possesses many 
magnificent hotels, they are utterly unprepared to make 
comfortable their visitors during the cold spells, in the 
matter of heat. There are only one or two that are 
prepared for heating in the rooms, and fuel is so expen- 
sive that even those are not able or at least do not make 
comfortable their guests. Even so far down as Assuan, 
several hundred miles south of Cairo, the mornings and 
evenings are frequently cold, and although no rain in 
that section is experienced, still there are spells of freez- 
ing temperature, which chills one through, with no facil- 
ities whatever for making warm and comfortable guests. 
By this, I do not wish to create an impression that Egypt 
does not possess a most charming atmosphere for winter 



Irrigation has 
changed climate cf 
upper Egypt. 



41 



In Cairo museum, 
one looks back 
6,000 years at Egyp- 
tian arts and 
sciences. 



visitors. At least three quarters of the time in Cairo, 
and perhaps in greater proportion as you go further up 
the Nile, the one fact always to be reckoned with, how- 
ever, is that there are frequent occasions to use winter 
clothing and that one should be prepared for chilly, dis- 
agreeable atmosphere. 

The museum at Cairo is the first in all the world for 
antiquities. In this great structure are to be found relics 
commencing with the prehistoric period more than three 
thousand years B. C. It is inexhaustible in its interest- 
ing exhibition of things of the past. One finds himself 
walking through the great corridors surrounded on every 
hand by engraven tablets, painted masks, coffins and 
articles of domestic furniture excavated from the tombs 
of all ages, and feels that he is living in the past, several 
thousand years ago. In fact, the museum is so varied, 
inexhaustible and extensive that one, in looking upon the 
ancient arts, sciences and material life exhibited here 
may well imagine himself to be an Egyptian, six thou- 
sand years old, standing upon the pinnacle of the present 
age and going back with one grand vision over the vast 
vista of past ages and seeing before him most of that 
which was the pride and glory of his country in mat- 
ters of art and science. 

Proceeding now from Cairo and vicinity to Luxor, 
passing by some interesting centers on the way with 
which we do not wish to unduly burden our Egyptian 
account, we arrive at Luxor, several hundred miles up 
the Nile. This is the site of ancient Thebes, a city said 
to contain more than 4,000,000 inhabitants, with a him 
dred golden gates, often the subject of poetic song by the 
classic poets of antiquity. This great city was divided 
by the Nile,, as the Borough of Manhattan by the East 
River is from Brooklyn. The site of Luxor is on the east 



42 



bank. On this side of the river is to be found many of 
the greatest temples, notably those of Luxor and Kar- 
mak, and no tombs, while on the west side are the famous 
royal tombs, besides many great temples. This is due to 
the fact that the "Westminster" of Egypt or "Green- 
wood" of Tliebes, was in the "Borough" (to use the 
modern language of to-day), on the west side of the 
river. Here it was that the Pharaoh of the Bondage, 
as well as of the Exodus and others, lived in their palaces, 
traces of which are yet seen, and wielded that scepter 
of power that awed the whole world, and whose worldly 
pomp and pagan grandeur were a hundred times flayed 
by the scriptural pen of the prophets. 

The first to charm us at Luxor are its temples. No 
minute description will be attempted. The two great ones 
are those of Karnak and Luxor. The former covers 
an area of more than twenty acres, and that of Luxor 
more than ten. So well have they been preserved by the 
heaps of dirt under which they have been buried for 
thirty centuries or more that the engraven inscriptions 
and symbols upon their massive columns and solid 
masonry appear as sharp and readable as though im- 
printed but yesterday. The thought that occurs to all 
is how it came to happen, that these temples slept so 
silently and for so long and have only come to light so 
recently, and mostly within the last fifty years. Especially 
does this seem marvellous in view of an unbroken con- 
tinuity of human government and civilization existing 
here since their original construction. More strange 
yet does it seem when we learn, even from Herodotus, 
that so far back as four and five hundred years B. C, 
that this spot was visited by European travelers, who 
journeyed here to view the wondrous relics then standing 
of antiquity, these very obelisks, the colossi of Thebes 



43 



and the various temples. This is verified by occasional 
inscriptions in Greek and Latin, made several hundred 
years B. C, found upon the great stones. The explan- 
ation is this: After the decline of the New Empire (1324 
B. C), the invasion of foreigners became constant and 
increasingly powerful, while the worship in the temples 
gradually lessened, until finally it became abandoned, and 
their repair and preservation neglected. They were use- 
less for any other purpose, and since stone of which they 
were constructed, could not be utilized for anything else, 
they were allowed to remain. The Nile Valley, at all 
times being subject to sand storms blowing off from 
the desert spots, in all directions, here and there exposed 
at short distances away, the massive masonry of their 
walls and columns at an early day caught the sand as a 
prairie shed would drifting snow, and banked it up. 
Unlike snow, however, it was indestructible, and, instead 
of melting, would harden by the overflowing Nile from 
time to time. No one cared to undertake the job (as 
would be expected in so poor a country) of clearing the 
sand and mud away. It necessarily soon became of such 
immensity and solidity that even modern enterprise and 
means have hesitated long at the enormous expense 
involved in clearing the rubbish away, much of which to 
this day remains. In the absence of any other explan- 
ation made or attempted by anyone, so far as my 
researches go, I offer this as a reasonable one, at least. 
Many were the pleasant days we spent in company with 
two cultured English ladies, mother and daughter, who, 
with us indulged in many dreamy reveries of the great 
past as we studied together these leviathan monsters of 
antiquity for weeks, so great was the hold which their 
charm of mysterious history had upon our imagination. 
When standing upon the east bank of the Nile, and 



44 



looking west from Luxor, we see before us the old site 
of Thebes, once the mightiest city of the world, now noth- 
ing but a beautiful plain. A glance further north, out 
upon the old historic ground, the crumbled pile of rock 
and stone which at a distance seems like a small moun- 
tain spur, with its long lines of walls, is the Rameseum, 
erected by the proudest of the Pharaohs, Rameses II, 
to serve as the greatest memorial of his fame and glory. 
Between these two structures and some distance there- 
from, rise up two great collossi from the green valley, 
whiqh, viewed in the morning from a point far away, 
seem like massive Gods in granite, sitting at ease upon 
the velvet lawn of a beautiful garden, communing in 
silence with the rising sun, invoking the favor of that 
great orb. Still further north are seen the collonades, 
capped with papyrus buds, which adorn the front of the 
ancient temple of Sethos I, founded in honor of Ammon, 
which, with its sharply defined walls, and hoary parts 
crumbling into mere relics here and there, seems like 
a grim old visage standing alone, battling with the ele- 
ments of time, which, though the struggle has lasted 
over three thousand years, and it has bravely and marvel- 
ously combatted its foe, its final conquest, before long, 
is becoming painfully apparent. 

Turning from this and looking west, we see at the 
very base of the Libyan mountain, and resting against 
its precipitous side, the temple of Der El Bahri, which, 
with its long line of columns in front and at the sides 
of its terraces at its entrance, if approached from a lower 
level below, is a suggestion of a modern capitol edifice, 
with its red sandstone glittering in the light of the morn- 
ing sun, and built by Queen Hatshepsowet three thou- 
sand four hundred years ago, as a monument to her glory 
while ruling as Regent for her brother Thutmosis III. 



Thebes, once inhab- 
ited by 4,000,000, 
now a beautiful 
plain. 



45 



There are to be seen the lesser temples, and in the 
mountain side innumerable caves like swallow holes in 
a sand bank, where princes of the royal families, and 
high priests of Thebes were buried, affirming the pres- 
ence of a great necropolis here, whose mummies and 
royal robes of death at Cairo tell their history; to say 
nothing of the great tombs of the illustrious kings and 
queens, found in the valley of the Libyan range out of 
sight from the Nile, and but a short distance therefrom. 

Having now taken a distant view of the picture de- 
scribed, which lies before you from the east bank of the 
Nile at Luxor like a panoramic scene, we proceed across 
the plain and inspect more closely the details, and what 
then do we find? 

We discover so much of indisputable history, beautiful 
architecture, painting, sculpturing, buildings, mysterious 
mechanical productions, so many pagan Gods, illustrations 
of domestic life, warfare, victories, territorial conquests, 
religious worship, so many offerings, gloomy conceptions 
of death, so much of art in the manufacture of jewelry 
and utensils, wondrous skill in the mummification of the 
human body, so much self glorification as well as the 
glorification of animals, all depicted upon and as strongly 
engraven in stone in every temple and tomb, as though* 
executed but yesterday, that we do not know where to 
begin to tell the story, or where to end the tale. 

These temples, which have slept silently for about 
twenty centuries beneath the sand, heaped up by the 
winds of the Lybian Desert, and these tombs secretly 
built and filled in to evade the robbers' spoil for all time, 
when the mortal remains of their imperial occupants en- 
tered their portals for final rest, with their translatable 
inscriptions engraven deeply in stone and granite and 
sculpturing and paintings, together form a book of his- 

46 



S- c 

o » 

M _ 

3 2 

D* ts E'- 
er- o o 



S H 



* 2. 




tory, absolutely incontestable and irrefutable, of contem- 
poraneous life, as well as prehistoric events. The thought 
of their unquestioned authenticity and knowledge of their 
undebatable character, impossible of impeachment or con- 
tradiction, should be uppermost in the modern mind, to 
disabuse it of a very natural skepticism, concerning the 
accuracy of any history, involving in the dim vistage 
events preceding the birth of Christ, two thousand or 
more years. The thought that we see the same sun 
and moon and stars, and the same old river and moun- 
tains that are here now as did the sons of Ham or any- 
one else who first inhabited this land, no matter whether 
four thousand or ten thousand years ago, it is easy to 
credit, and universally is assumed, without the slightest 
tinge of incredulity. But, one accustomed to learn ancient 
history from books or writings or legends with their 
destructible and fragile character, the most ancient of 
which at most, being copies or translations of unauthen- 
ticated originals or more generally based on popular 
tradition which necessarily lacks testimonial force has, 
by habit, become incredulous and creates some in- 
difference to ancient history as lacking the interest of 
truthful portrayal. It may be true, that, in the Vatican, 
and among the Archives of some of the older nations 
of civilization, can be found original historic information 
of contemporaneous events occurring a few years before 
Christ, but they are so limited in scope or comparatively 
modern in inscription, or inaccessable to the world and 
few in number, that they do not convince, or furnish a 
real or original picture of antiquity. Hence we have 
grown to look upon the far distant past (that is, preced- 
ing the Roman empire, or when Europe was uncivilized) 
as a matter of such uncertainty that its events, like its 
lost arts, can not be determined, and are buried so deeply 



49 




mmmmmi ^ 

S\ HMV'-.---:7 | -.^-hTfH / 



in the sea of oblivion that there is no hope of light being 
thrown upon them. 

Not so here. The temples, pyramidal and rock tombs 
of Egypt, everywhere are opening to the whole 
world their books of contemporaneous history over a 
range of one thousand to four thousand years before 
Christ, unfolded by the spade and read by the light of 
the Rosetta stone and other means so simple, that the 
language of the hieroglyphics has become a modernized 
tongue. 

Interest deepens in the revelations of the past, which 
these recently unearthed monuments of former antiquity 
present, as the prodigous volume of history, engraven 
and painted thereon, becomes apparent. The quantity 
and multiplicity of the inscriptions are so amazingly 
great that the extent thereof only gradually becomes 
fully appreciated as one carefully surveys the field and 
studies closely the details. At the outset, it is a grave 
mistake to suppose that we find only a few old ruins 
that are dumb and mute, like those of Rome or Athens, 
speaking no language, voicing to us no history in words 
and signs. We must realize in order to excite our deep- 
est interest, the fact that, instead of having before us 
only a few crumbling monuments of its past, of inferior 
dimensions, we have many of them, not less than two 
hundred and fifty minutely described by the guide books, 
and most of which are of great size, and many in a 
marvelous state of preservation, and all blazing with 
hieroglyphic light, proclaiming in relief, engraving or 
painting, the life and sentiment of a great people, which 
though largely pagan, nevertheless human and real. 

Take for instance the great temple at Luxor; by 
actual measurement made by myself and of the hiero- 
glyphics upon its walls, ceiling and colonnades, I found 



By Rosetta stone, 
hieroglyphics have 
become a modern- 
ized tongue. 



51 



it would require a ribbon two feet in width about nine- 
teen miles and one-half long, upon which to reproduce 
the hieroglyphics alone in this one great temple. This 
result was arrived at by approximating a fair average, 
allowing for some figure hieroglyphics, several feet in 
height and dimensions, while in others, six to eight 
inches. Now when it was considered that there are at 
least a dozen great temples and tombs in which solid 
hieroglyphic inscriptions are engraved and written, we 
can at this day even read in its temples and tombs alone 
hundreds of miles of hieroglyphics of important events 
occuring many thousands of years ago in the social, 
political, military, commercial, artistic and religious life 
of the nation. These tombs and temples referred to are 
iban Mulik. West- on the site of the ancient city of Thebes, once containing a 
inster of Thebes. population said to be over four millions, and now nothing 
but a vast farming plain, upon which the mud hut of the 
Arab (and few of them), together with these old tem- 
ples, mark the place where it formerly stood. To me, 
even more interesting than the temples, with all their 
acres of area, which they now cover, are the rock tombs 
of the Pharaohs in Biban Mulik, the old necropolis 
and real "Westminster" of Thebes. Take for instance 
the tomb of Amenothese II, erected about one thousand 
five hundred years B. C, and what do we find in it as 
typical of many others in the immediate vicinity? This 
is it : After winding our way over the great plain 
of Thebes, around through the narrow pass in the 
Lybian range of mountains for three or four miles, 
we come to a short valley not over one thousand feet 
in width and one-half mile in length upon all sides of 
which, excepting the one through which we enter, great 
lime-stone mountains, treeless, herbless, piercing the blue 
vault of heaven as you look upward. There is no place 

52 



on earth where the sky appears bluer than at this very 
spot, in contrast with the lime-stone mountains and preci- 
pices that tower above your head. In fact, it is the 
remark of everyone that the sky can be hardly said to 
be blue because of its intensity of color, but more resem- 
bles black. Passing on, we find bored into the base of 
the mountain a great tunnel, ten or twelve feet in diam- 
eter, with steps in regular proportion, extending about 
45 degrees right angle for several hundred feet in a tor- 
tious way in solid rock, until you finally come to two 
chambers. The first of these chambers is about thirty 
feet square with a ceiling about fifteen feet in height. 
Immediately adjoining this chamber and having the same 
roof is another room of a so-called crypt, the floor of 
which is several feet lower than the first chamber. In this 
crypt we find a beautiful rose-colored sarcophagus 
weighing many tons, polished like a piano, with such 
brilliancy that you could nearly see your face in it. The 
dados and friezes of the chambers are painted beauti- 
fully, the friezes with the Lotus flower of Egypt (which, 
with the Pharaohs as a species, has long since passed from 
earthly existence), containing, as they do, varigated col- 
ors, the ceiling being painted with a beautiful blue sky 
color, and dotted with golden stars in yellow. Upon the 
walls and pillars are painted in bright colors gods of the 
entombed Pharaohs. Besides, there are several "books 
of the dead" written in hieroglyphics with a steady hand, 
against a yellow, cream background, the symbols and 
figures of which stand forth as clearly as though written 
but yesterday, telling of the religious belief of the Pagan 
monarch and the doctrines of eternity upon which his 
soul depended for peace and joy. In the sarcophagus is 
found the Pharaoh himself, wrapped in his royal band- 
ages, with feet, hands and head exposed, lying precisely 



Tomb of 
Amenothese II, 
most beautiful. 



53 




v .: ^_ 












A Pharao mummy in his tomb. 
Egypt. 
(Original drawing by M'Allister.) 



as he was put there by the high priests of Ammon three 
thousand three hundred and twenty-eight years ago. So 
well preserved is his body that his features are perfect, 
his teeth, slightly protruding, showing that the art of 
dentistry was practiced upon him. Locks of his hair are 
there. His hands are almost of the normal size, with 
finger nails well manicured, upon the tips of which is 
found the brownish liquid which even to this day orna- 
ments the nails of Egyptians. In truth, as he lies there, 
he looks like a corpse, beneath the electric light, which is 
hung from the ceiling above in such a manner as to 
throw a sombre hue upon his face, imparting a wonder- 
fully natural appearance. 

There is hardly a scratch anywhere to be seen on 
walls or ceilings. The bright electric lights illuminate 
the chamber and bring out the original colors with much 
beauty. Nothing is needed to give it the elegance of a Body of the dead 
modern royal mausoleum. The Pharaoh who preceded 
Meneptah of the exodus by two hundred years, lies in mnr ^ 
state to-day, with a finer tomb than many European 
monarchs, buried in the last century. People of all nations 
pass by in reverent mood his bier, in one continuous pro- 
cession, and pay their respects to the dead. They lean 
forth with curious glance and look down upon that face 
with the same sense of nearness as though he died but 
yesterday. Strange, this turn in the fame of Amenothese ! 
He was buried 3,400 years ago, and was dead more than 
500 years before Moses wrote Exodus, 1,400 years before 
Christ and centuries before Europe was civilized. Now 
in the glare of the nineteenth century civilization, his 
tomb is unlocked and the world invited to come and view 
his remains, lying in state, carefully preserved and ten- 
derly guarded. The world has accepted the invitation, 
and by the numerous processions which daily wind their 

55 



world. 



way from all countries on earth, he is having the greatest 
funeral with which human monarch was ever honored. 

The doctrine of the "book of the dead," extracts from 
which are written above his sarcophagus, proclaiming 
the return of life after death, strong in the faith of which 
he died, seems almost exemplified by this recent part, 
which his hoary locks and physical being are playing in 
human affairs of to-day. If at least his soul has not 
returned, his body has. 

Curious enough, when ten years ago this tomb was 
found by Loret, under the auspices of the French gov- 
ernment, there were found in a side chamber or recess, 
nine other royal mummies, most of whom were well pre- 
served and absolutely identified by their royal robes in 
which they were wrapped and cartouches upon their 
coffins. These now lie in the National Museum at Cairo, 
among which is that of Meneptah, the Pharaoh of Exo- 
dus. Until this great discovery, Biblical scholars for ages 
have contended that that wicked sovereign went down 
with his host in the Red Sea as a special visitation of 
God for his sins. Moses, in his description of the event, 
used language susceptible of double construction, and 
that interpretation was generally adopted by Biblical 
scholars most favorable to the real punishment he de- 
served. Now, however, the cloud of mysticism has been 
cleared away, and at last, it was left to our immediate 
day and generation to rescue his mortal remains from 
the eternal oblivion in which they have slept from all 
the world for more than thirty centuries. 

The one most responsible perhaps for these great 
discoveries is one Ab Rassoul, an Arab mountaineer, 
living in an impoverished manner in one of the many 
rock caves on the site of old Thebes. Some years ago, 
and before the discovery of these most important sepul- 

56 



chers, visitors at Luxor were occasionally approached to 
buy what was claimed and finally proven to be, genuine 
Scarabs, papyrus, jewelry and funerary articles. Sus- 
picion being aroused, the government caused the arrest 
of the brothers Rassoul. Although imprisoned for two 
months, and subjected to the most searching investiga- 
tion, no satisfactory evidence was found, and they were 
set at liberty. Quarreling among themselves over spoils 
of their "find," the brother of "Ab," to square himself, 
advised the government, that, if assured of a house and 
two hundred and fifty dollars a year, he would disclose 
information leading to the discovery of one or more 
royal tombs. The proposition was accepted, with the 
result, that a sepulcher was found, containing several 
Pharaohs and more than six carloads of valuable fune- 
rary articles, all now at Cairo Museum. 

"Ab." Rassoul gave "points," however, to all the 
scientific and highly-paid experts of the world, who, 
for half a century had been trying to find these tombs 
in behalf of their respective governments. They taught 
them that all the great debris and immense heaps of 
disintegrated rock, lying at the foot of the precipitous 
cliffs of the Lybian range was not done by nature. That, 
occasionally here and there were to be found small par- 
ticles of chips, precisely resembling those of disinteg- 
rated rock, but, that on close inspection, the slightest 
mark of a cutting instrument could be seen. When 
this was found, a clue was given that nearby an exca- 
vation in ancient time had been made, and although it 
might necessitate the removal of great quantities of rock 
to find the initial entrance, it was sure to follow sooner 
or later. Acting on this clue, the French government 
in 1898 found the sepulcher of Amenothese II, which 



Old Rassoul gave 
points to the 
world's experts. 



57 




"Ab" Rassoul, discoverer Royal tombs. 

Egypt. 

(From original photograph.) 



was opened with that pomp of official ceremony which 
the Egyptian law commands. 

Learning that Rassoul still lived, an old man above 
eighty years, across the river, I sent for him to come to 
our hotel at Luxor and tell us with his own lips the 
great story which has made him already famous in his- 
tory. The above is as we got it from him, and curiously 
enough, it verifies Maspero's account in the official guide 
of the National Museum. We had him photographed, 
as though he was being prepared for the Rogues Gal- 
lery, and compensating him suitably for his trouble, 
bade him adieu. 

We introduce him here as the star actor on the stage 
of modern Theban life, it being his first appearance, and 
though the curtain will soon ring down and he will be 
no more, yet his fame is surely linked to that of the 
Pharaohs for all time to come This is the first 

There is so much to say about Luxor that the subject appearance of Ras- 
becomes almost inexhaustible. We must, however, now soul in public, 
leave the dead, tell a story of the living, and pass on to 
another country. 

When riding along one day with my family, a bright 
young Arab, about ten years old, jumped up on the step 
of the Victoria and said in good English, "Do you want 
a guide, sir?" This coming from so small a lad with 
such directness in a country where the natives all speak 
Arab, astounded us all. Besides, his rich gown and fez 
were attractive and most picturesque. He greatly inter- 
ested us, and I said, "Yes, we would take him if he could 
give good 'reference,' " whereupon he handed me a card 
and said that was his reference. The card read, "Rich- 
ard Croker." Questioning the boy, I found it was the 
Ex-Tammany Chief. Having good reference, of course, 
he was given at least some employment. A few days 

59 



little Hassan. 



after, at Assuan, I met Mr. Croker and related the above 
experience. "Why," said he, "Hassan is the brightest 
boy I ever saw. You saw his nice gown and hat, did 
you not?" he asked; and I said, "Yes, I noticed it was 
very beautiful." "Well," he said, "I bought them for 
him because I thought he deserved them. My friend and 
self had him a day or two around with us. My friend 
would occasionally take a glass of American whiskey, 
although I did not. Just about as we were finally part- 
ing, my friend asked Hassan if he would like to go back 
to New York with him, and if he did, he would take 
him. Hassan hesitated and took me to one side and 
said, 'Mr. Croker, I will go with you, if you want me, 
not with your friend.' I said to him he was a good 
man and asked him why he did not care to go with 
him He said to me, 'Mr. Croker, he drinks too much 
whiskey to suit me.' Well, I nearly collapsed, and that 
very night looked up the Sheik of the town, found his 
record, and rewarded him with the best suit I could 
buy, and that is the suit he had on." 



60 




Lands. 



CHAPTER V. 

Palestine and Syria. 

^x^E now follow the tracks of the Israelites and 
leave the land of the Pharaohs for Pales- 
tine. We did not, however, cross the Red 
Sea, but in a more commodious and safer 
way, by steamer, from Port Said to Joppa. 
When approaching the historic and sacred 

shores of Palestine at Joppa, as we did on a bright 

April morning, there was an indescribable feeling of 

awe and pensive reverie caused by the consciousness that 

we were about to touch the soil which has been the 

religious center of all the world, the guide book to which Bible was our guide 

is the Old and the New Testament. To look upon the 

mountains in the far distance and the beautiful plains 

spreading out before us like a rich green velvet carpet, 

fringed with orange groves, the blossoms from which 

perfumed the air, distinctly discernible from the deck 

of the steamer, present a sight never to be forgotten as 

one of intensest interest and historical importance. 

We were at last now looking upon the land positively 

identified as the home of Abraham, Joseph, Jacob and 

all the prophets in the long line of succession. We were 

sure that the mountains in the far distance and the val- 
leys dimly to be seen, were those upon which the eyes 

of Christ rested, and was the theatre of his religious and 

spiritual activity when on earth. Great thoughts these, 

on the threshold of the Holy Land which enter the mind 

of him who in boyhood days has been taught to reverence 

and love the Christ and to read and study his history and 

the teachings of those older prophets of the Bible. When 

61 



Hotel rooms not 
numbered, but 
named after 
Prophets. 



Rome is first presented to the eye it enthuses one with 
its charm of ancient associations and relics of past glory 
familiar to every reader. But when one looks for the first 
upon the Holy Land there is altogether a different feel- 
ing which overtakes him. He is now conscious that he 
is approaching closely a thousand sacred places, immor- 
talized by Biblical history and scenes of all the 
great prophets and actors upon the stage of religious 
life, about which for more than fifteen centuries hun- 
dreds of thousands of pulpits throughout the Christian 
civilization have preached daily to millions of human 
souls. That we were entering into an atmosphere of 
religious history was apparent when we first landed at 
Joppa. The hotel at which we stopped, being the first 
of the city, elegant and comfortable, had no numbers 
upon its rooms, but each room was designated by the 
name of an apostle or prophet; instead of No. i, there 
was Jeremiah ; No. 2, was Abraham, and so on through- 
out the whole list. Even when the bills at the hotel were 
settled, it seems that the credit of the old apostles and 
prophets was so unimpeachable that they were made out 
in their names rather than the guests, thus : Mr. Gard- 
ner-Abraham, indebted, so and so. This seemed to be 
a sort of compliment to the guests, for in my case it 
was the first that my name had been linked in a business 
sense with that grand, old patriarch of antiquity. 

It seemed, too, at Joppa, that the charge for carriage 
hire and hotel bills were strictly in accordance with the 
Christian idea of live and let live. Although this prin- 
ciple may not have been universally applied throughout 
all the Holy Land (I witnessed one or two prominent 
exceptions), still, as a rule, charges are consistently har- 
monious with the doctrine of fairness in human dealings, 
so prominently advocated by the Gospel. 



62 



It is with much reluctance that we pass by these 
beautiful orange groves without description, and leave 
untouched here the old residence of Simon Peter, the 
tanner, with its gabled roof, bowed down with the bur- 
den of twenty centuries upon its back, to go on over the 
beautiful plain of Sharon, to reach the Mecca, to which 
all Christians go, high up on the mountain top of Zion 
and Mount Moriah, the Jerusalem of to-day. This city, 
to me, was a surprise in more than one respect, situated 
as it is, high up, upon a great mountain (not hill), the 
summit of which is entirely occupied by the sacred city. 
Lower down upon its western, northern and southern 
base there are beautiful plains, rich and fertile as the 
sun shines upon, yet covering an acreage upon the moun- 
tain itself, perhaps of not less than ten thousand acres. 
I should say that Jerusalem is situated upon nothing 
more or less than a barren rock, treeless, herbless and 
almost grassless, except now and then gardens, the pro- 
duct of artificial cultivation. This is in strange con- 
trast with many other cities in the Holy Land. Of this 
fact I had not before learned with sufficient clearness. 
Another surprise was, that instead of finding an old run- 
down and dilapidated city of antiquity, as its name and 
history would seem to imply, the major part of Jerusalem 
consists of modern streets, dwelling and buildings, which 
will classify it among up-to-date cities in many respects. 
Many great hospitals, hospices and denominational and 
ecclesiastical institutions, many of which tower up and 
impress one as to size, like many of our great apartment 
houses in New York, are to be seen everywhere. 

Of course, the business carried on in these great 
structures is not that of manufacturing or of commerce, 
but caring for the sick and the dependent, of the various 
denominations to which they belong. The site of Solo- 

63 



mon's temple with its great court is there. The Church 
of the Holy Sepulchre, the old Roman wall with its 
ancient gates still exists. The palace where Pilate sat 
in judgment upon the Saviour is pointed out with more 
or less certainty, while the crooked street leading from 
St. Stephen's gate pass the prison where Christ was im- 
prisoned (Dolorosa), and over which he was led to the 
cross, is there with the several stations, it is said, where 
He fell under the weight of his cruel burden ; and right 
here occurs one of those curious contradictions of the 
apostolic account of Christ with which we so frequently 
meet. It is generally supposed and always preached 

that He bore the cross on the way to his crucifixion. 
Christ did not bear ,_,,. ,, ,. . . . ., „ . , 

.. Ihis was the street over which it is said He carried, 

tne cross. 

and staggered under it. Hymnals and poems from time 
immemorial have sung in plaintive mood of this crush- 
ing humiliation of the Son of God. With testament in 
hand as our best guide, I found in Matthew, Chapter 27 
in verses 31-32, the following: "And after they had 
mocked Him they took the robe from Him, and put His 
own rainment on Him, and led Him away to crucify 
Him ; and as they came out, they found a man of 
Cyrene, Simon by name ; him they compelled to bear His 
cross." Now, as Matthew was a witness to the transac- 
tion, I came to the conclusion that he knew as much, at 
least, about the matter as our guide, and as human 
writers who composed their recitals centuries after the 
act. 

In the old Jewish quarters of the city one finds per- 
haps the most interesting sights which are calculated 
to excite human sympathy, equal, if not surpassing the 
compassionate emotion with which the recital of the 
Lord's last experience in the city stirs one's being. For 
almost miles are to be seen in long and narrow streets 

64 



covered over mostly with canvas, old and young Jews. 
They have curious garbs, and most picturesque physical 
appearances. Their hair is worn in ringlets over their 
ears. Their caps are generally fur, and their long, black, 
blue and crimson colored gowns combine to give them 
an air of social exclusiveness and oddity of manner, truly 
suggestive of the patriarchial period of Abraham, and 
from Nhomar, his contemporaries they are in fact the 
direct descendants. It is because of their commendable 
pride in the blood of their distinguished ancestry, and 
their unbroken continuity of faith, taught by their ancient 
fathers in the one true God that they prefer to manifest, 
by the strangeness of their lives and isolation from the 
whirl of modern civilization that they still are the worthy 
sons of an honored race. It is true that empires and king- 
doms have come and gone, and in turn occupied and 
oppressed their native land ; that all the nations of an- 
tiquity, including Syria, Egypt, Persia, Greece, Rome 
and Macedonia have battled over their possessions, and 
at one time or the other, have each wielded their grind- 
ing scepter over these faithful followers of Abraham, 
and yet they still live on, a contented, loyal and peace 
loving race, with a faith as impregnable as the rock of 
Zion on which they live. 

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, is, of course, 
visited by all with a curiosity that is universal with 
every sect and believers or non-believers. It contains 
the so-called tomb of the resurrection and the rock of 
Calvary. These are shown to all without restriction. 

We were at the portals of the tomb on last Palm 
Sunday, and witnessed the celebration of that event 
at the very spot of its occurrence. And what a scene! 
From daylight there began to swarm in the church many 
thousands from all lands, and by eight A. M., the crowd 

65 



Calvary nearly mile 
away from the holy 
sepulcher. 



was so dense in the hundred and one recesses, chapels, 
corridors and galleries, that it seemed as if 25,000 souls 
were crowded in a space intended for but 5,000. 

The spectacle of one hundred great greasy Turkish 
soldiers, with guns in hand, lined up to keep order, and 
the sight of the fanatical hosts as far as from the plains 
of Russia on the north, to the mountains of Abysinia on 
the south, to say nothing of the Copts of Egypt, the 
Greeks of Asia Minor, Armenians, and other sects bat- 
tling with each other to gain entrance within the holy 
precinct, is never to be forgotten It in fact seemed a 
desecration rather than worship. The Russian orthodox 
fanatic who had walked most of the way here in an 
army of ten thousand, was willing to fight and die for 
the faith within him, while the Armenian enthusiasts, 
Catholics, Copts and other sects were equally furious in 
their protestations of devotion. 

Here, again, we came to another doubtful fork in the 
road of Biblical authenticity of which there are so many 
in this ancient theater of dramatic life. 

We open again the New Testament for our guide 
to steer us on the right road, for we hear, that even this 
was not the place of crucifixion, nor even the tomb. 
Turning to the 15th Chapter of Mark and verses 22, 
23 and 24, we read (22) : "And they bring Him unto 
the place, Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, the 
place of the skull, (23) And they gave Him to drink, 
wine, mingled with myrrh; but He received it not. (24) 
And when they had crucified Him, they parted His 
garments, etc." 

Now the place, according to this eye witness of the 
transaction (and Mark is entitled to credit), was 
"Golgotha," the place of a skull. The place or hill of 
the "skull" is nearly a mile from the Church of the Holy 



66 



Sepulchre, and stands a quarter of a mile outside of the 
walls. It bears resemblance to a man's skull, by rea- 
son of the great smooth rock, looking like the top of a 
bald man's head, while there are pronounced projections 
below, that show a man's forehead and the side of a 
head. It is an old historic place, whose ancient name 
has been as well preserved in profane history as Moriah 
or Zion, within the city limits. 

In fact, some of the other apostles verified Mark's 
statement and none denied it. This evidence is original, 
and not hearsay in a judicial sense. It would be accepted 
by a Court as of a most convincing character. Besides, 
Christ was a Roman subject, a citizen of Nazareth. 
Imperial authority in those days enforced the law of per- 
sonal rights as strongly as England does to-day, and 
stronger than the United States (for here lynch law is 
of occasional occurrence, and never was in Rome or 
England). 

It was a law of the country at the time that a pris- 
oner to be executed should be so placed that, before 
the final act, he could raise his right hand to signal the 
judge, sitting in the Temple, to stay temporarily the 
taking of his life. Being so, the rock in the Holy 
Sepulchre or a man standing on the same, could not be 
possibly seen from the temple because of the variety of 
ancient obstructions, not the least among which was the 
unfavorable configuration of the intervening space. On 
the other hand, prisoners executed on "Golgotha" could 
then and now be easily seen from the judgment hall 
in the temple court, a fact which makes the place as 
the one most easy with which to conform to the Roman 
law in the execution of the condemned. 

The tomb known as "Gordons," found near the base 
of "Golgotha," is also supposed to have been the one 

67 



where the "honorable counsellor," Joseph, of Arimathaea, 
buried him, and rolled against the door thereof a stone, 
Mark, Chapter 16-43. This tomb was excavated a few 
years ago, and found to possess all the physical char- 
acteristics described as the one from which Christ resur- 
rected. 

We do not wish to burden this brief narrative with 
too much reference to odd things seen in Jerusalem. 
There are innumerable subjects of interest which could 

_ . , . ,. be spoken of, but some space must be left for other parts. 

Jericho, smitten relic * . , , , .,,. T ,,, 

of antiquity Jericho must have a place in the list, it would be 

unpardonable to slight this old war-worn, earthquake- 
smitten relic of antiquity, forsaken as it seems to be, 
by everything and everybody, even by God himself. Once 
one of the proudest cities of the Orient, now generated 
into a few mud huts in the midst of general devastation 
and waste. Its plains were only seventeen centuries ago 
accounted among the richest in the world. Now they 
are a parched bottom of salty mud, springless, water- 
less, not even old Jordan any longer replenishing them 
with moisture. Near the base of the mountain on the 
west, however, the spring of Elisha gushes forth, the 
only dependence of the inhabitants for water. Even this 
is so old that it was mentioned in (II Kings 11-19-22). 

This place and its plains are mentioned more than 
fifty times, in the Old and New Testaments, as the 
scene of many stirring Biblical experiences, not the least 
interesting among which are to be found the tragic 
accounts of the battles among the inhabitants of the 
neighboring kingdoms and tribes, contending for the 
possession of its domain as well as the prophesies fore- 
told of its destruction (See Numbers 33-47-48; Joshua 
5; Joshua 6-26-1 ; Kings 16-34; II Kings 2). 

From here we see the Jordan, a small stream of 

68 



water, and not far away therein, is where the baptism 
of our Lord occurred, although again our guide-book, 
the New Testament, is somewhat contradictory on this 
point as to the exact locality, but all are agreed that it 
was in the water of Jordan that He was baptized. 

Nazareth, the birthplace of the Son of Peace, is 
fascinatingly interesting to a visitor. It is here He came 
from Bethlehem, the place of His birth. It is here where 
He spent His boyhood days, and communed with God 
amidst these very mountain and valley scenes, which still 
exist unchanged. Great mountains these, imperishable 
relics of the days of our Saviour. Although we may not 
be able to put our finger upon the very spot where He 
lived, or the shop in which He wielded the carpenter's Same scenes - m 
hammer, or the synagogue in which He first publicly Judea to-day, as of 
preached, yet it is a certain fact that in this quiet little old. 
village He spent the most of His life. It is here and 
at Tiberias and other places of Judea where He made 
those observations, and had those experiences with 
human life upon which the doctrines of the New Testa- 
ment are based. In this country of unchanged and 
unchangeable habits, it is interesting to note to this very 
day most of the domestic habits and repetition of 
domestic agricultural and industrial scenes, so many 
times vividly portrayed by the Saviour in the accounts 
of the apostles. There is Mary's fountain, still gushing 
forth limpid water, the only one in the whole town with 
which the thirst of its inhabitants has been replenished 
for centuries, even before the birth of Christ. There 
grow in the field about lilies of the valley and roses of 
Sharon, symbolized by the Great Teacher as emblematic 
of human piety and virtue. There can be heard in all 
directions the cackling of the hen as she is brooding 
over, and protecting her chickens, and the crowing of the 

69 



cock, which now and then sounds forth so clearly like a 
clarion note from a neighboring hill or barn. Winding 
their way up the hot and dusty roads about Nazareth 
may also be seen the jagged but faithful donkey, groan- 
ing under the weight of his burden and sitting upon 
which, with flowing gown, is the turbaned inhabitant of 
the place, the very picture of the ancient drawings which 
represent the scene. Thus one thing is sure, that these 
flowers, fowls and animals are each descended in the 
line of succession from those which formed the subject 
of the apostolic descriptions, pulsating with the same life 
and characterized by the same habits as their progenitors 
of two thousand years ago, living in the same atmos- 
pheric conditions and influenced by the same surround- 
ings. 

One should go to Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee, 
there also to view the field of Christ's greatest activity. 
This sea is not of the size its name implies. It is nothing 
but an ordinary American lake, barricaded on both sides, 
as it were, with great mountains, the northern and south- 
ern extremities of which gradually broadening out into 
the valleys. Standing at any one point of the lake, one 
can see the whole of its shores. While it is true that old 
Capernaum has left hardly a mark of its location, yet 
its former site is reasonably certain. It is here where 
our Lord, after being rejected at Nazareth, came and 
dwelt (Matt. 4-13) and which was then called His own 
city (Matt. 9-1). Here it was He healed the lunatic in 
the synagogue (Mark 1-28) and cured Peter's mother- 
in-law (Luke 4-38-41), restored the paralytic, called to 
his aid Matthew (Matt. 9-9), cured the centurion's ser- 
vant (Luke 7-1), restored the daughter of Jairus from 
the dead (Mark 5-32-43) and obtained the tribute money 
from the mouth of a fish (Matt. 17-24-27). It was near 



70 



here that He chose His twelve disciples (Mark 3-13-19), 
delivered the sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5), speaking 
the parables of the "Sower," the "Tares," the "Treasure 
Hid in the Field," the "Merchant Seeking Goodly 
Pearls," and the "Net Cast into the Sea" (Matt. 13). 
It was here He gave a lecture on "Fasting," on "For- 
mality" to the Hyprocritical Pharisees and delivered His 
master sermons in the synagogue on "Humility," "For- 
bearance" and "Brotherly Love" to His disciples (Mark 
9-33-50). 

Thus it is seen at a glance that this small body of 
water has a great place in history, and was the scene of 
many of those miracles from which Christians argue 
the divinity of Christ. When sitting upon the shores of 
this lake, one Sunday afternoon, the thought flashed 
across my mind that there was before me a place about 
which hundreds of thousands of sermons that instant 
were being preached, and its immortal fame thundered 
forth to millions of listening Christians throughout the 
civilized world. This very thought gave its ripples 
almost a magic quiver. It seemed almost like a dream 
thus to be sitting. One is hardly conscious that he is 
looking upon the real sea and sitting upon its very shore 
and looking upon the very mountains which were the 
scenes of these miraculous doings. With other places, 
such as the great battle fields, the eyes of the whole 
world are focused upon them for the time being, and 
as soon as the smoke of battle is gone, the eyes are lifted 
and they no longer become the subject of universal com- 
ment and observation. Although great historic scenes 
in Greece and Rome elicit more or less attention by 
scholars and travelers, yet not the greatest of which 
are now and never have been the subject of universal 
sermons. So this sea and its surroundings presented 



71 



Attendants of 
flocks, descended 
from ancient tribes 
of shepherds. 



nearly two thousand years ago scenes of superhuman 
interest, yet it is not the isolated scholar and the occa- 
sional traveler or the reader of history which alone immor- 
talize it, but increasingly as the ages go on, they become 
the daily subject of comment and discussion, with an 
ever increasing army of observers, reaching into the 
many millions. Upon the hilly site of Tiberias, there 
was the repetition of several scenes, so beautifully de- 
picted in the apostolic account of that country. From 
one point of view we saw several flocks of sheep 
browsing upon the short cut grass of an immense green 
field, sloping beautifully from the water's edge. This 
flock was attended by the proverbial shepherd, a peasant 
of the country, with staff in hand, poorly, but pictur- 
esquely clad. From early morning till late at night the 
sole companions of this shepherd boy, were his hundred 
or more sheep. I learned that his ancestors for genera- 
tions were of the tribe of shepherds, whose business 
it has always been to attend the flocks. Again, further 
up on the top of the sloping mountain sides or hills were 
basking in the sun acres of beautiful wild flowers, grow- 
ing like weeds in a rich garden, waist high of varigated 
colors and much brilliancy. These fields of flowers 
seemed to grow in patches in several acres each, scat- 
tered around upon the plains. Here again, was a 
scene with which we have always been made familiar 
by Biblical lore. Thus we could go on ad infinitum, 
with many others which, however, would prove burden- 
some to the mind, especially those who have not been 
privileged to see the original. Some travelers who have 
omitted to visit the Holy Lands claim as the ground of 
their excuse that they have feared too close inspection 
of the place where these holy scenes occurred would 
detract more or less from the charm or mysticism 



72 



with which the imagination, at a great distance, seizes 
their minds. Not so with us. The Christian religion 
is founded upon the doctrine of truth and reality. One 
is synonomous with the other. The nearer one comes 
to the truth and reality, the nearer he comes to the fun- 
damental doctrine of the Christian religion and, of 
course, the closer to the Great Founder one gets, or the 
scenes of His physical activity, the more he realizes that 
after all, Christ was not that mysterious Spirit who was 
so far above men and His fellow creatures that He could 
not possibly be one of them. Unless He had been one of 
them, He could not have been the Christ. It was His 
very human nature that He possessed that enabled Him 
to sympathize with humanity and humanity with Him, 
which lay at the bottom of His great religion. In this 
sense we should not be afraid to associate ourselves or 
our imagination as closely with His physical character- 
istics and doings on earth as is possible. 

Before pulling the curtain down over the Judean 
scene, we must take a parting glance at Mount Tabor. 
the Mount of Transfiguration. It rises nearly one mile 
in regular conical shape, out of the beautiful plain of 
Esdraeleon, being at its base, perhaps in diameter, 
three miles, and running to a point, at its summit, 
not over a quarter of a mile in diameter. Instead of 
rocks and rough surface upon its sloping sides, it is 
mostly cultivated with green fields and vegetation, which 
in the distance look like green velvet carpets. Winding 
around from the base to its summit, with consummate 
skill, is a graded road, the foundation of which was 
laid by the Romans, which zig-zags in such regular 
courses as to present, at a distant view, the appearance 
of a great white snake, from base to summit. 

On horseback, I ascended to its top, from which in 



74 



all directions before my eyes I beheld the grandest scene, 

without exception, in historical interest and soft effect 

which it has been my privilege to see. Before me, in 

the great panoramic scenes of plains, mountains and 

valleys, fertile, soft, cultivated and charming in the ex- , 

treme, were those thousand and one scenes of battles, 

strifes and miracles so often depicted in Biblical lore. 

But I must not enlarge, for I am now in the center of an 

intensely religious atmosphere and history, which is 

enough to enthuse the most stupid imagination and to 

turn his thoughts from this world of care to the hoary 

past, as well as spiritual things above. To illustrate : s . cene . of . 3,00 ° Rus " 

When I commenced to descend, I saw before me a wind- ,, \_ fL , 

' Mount Tabor. 

ing procession of three thousand devotees of the Russian 
Church, the van of which was near the summit, the rear 
guard, stretched far out upon the plains below. They 
were traveling three abreast. They had in their hands 
walking staffs, and upon their backs they were loaded 
with pots, kettles and other cooking implements. Most 
of them were hatless. Some were young, many very, 
very old. As they stretched out in this winding zig- 
zag road, it looked like an army of several thousand 
marching. I passed by them on my way down. Almost 
all the men and women had copper-colored, grim, hard set 
visages, determined to stand upon the Mount of Transfig- 
uration and there to offer up their prayers. They had 
come several thousands of miles from the barren plains of 
Russia, a devoted pilgrimage, to the land of their Saviour. 
They had encountered every hardship ; had walked in great 
boots with leather tops to the knee, over three hundred 
miles, camping in hospices and upon the open plains. 
I am sure it would be safer to utter a word against 
their child, so strong was their faith, than it would be 
to utter it against their Christ. Afterwards I saw these 

75 



same pilgrims on Easter day, in Jerusalem, they being 
a part of an army of ten thousand from their country 
who annually visit this Mecca of Christians. I saw 
upon the wayside several instances of aged men and 
women panting under the glaring sun, being tenderly 
cared for by younger ones. I could not speak their 
language, or they mine. I concluded that they would 
soon, by their appearance, meet their Lord elsewhere. 
When in Jerusalem, there were hundreds who died daily, 
as the result of disease from these pilgrimages, and I 
have no doubt but some of those faithful, whom I saw 
thus afflicted upon the side of Mount Tabor, were those 
whose bodies were carried through the streets of Jeru- 
salem, sadly to the music of the Russian requiem. 



Urbanna flows 
rapidly yet, as of 
old, through 
Damascus. 



DAMASCUS. 

We now have left Judea and are within the precincts 
of ancient Damascus, said to be by many writers the old- 
est city in the world. The native population of this old 
place are Arabs and few Jews. The prevailing religion 
now is that of Moslem, the same as throughout the Holy 
Lands. 

The city is picturesquely situated in the midst of the 
rich plains of Damascus, extending many miles north 
and south and narrower east and west. It is in many 
respects famous for its productivity. The modern fea- 
tures of interest, of course, are its great bazaars, where 
the rugs and carpets of the Orient find their market and 
from which the whole world buys at retail and wholesale 
as well. The River Urbana flows still as rapidly through 
its center as when referred to in Scripture. The street, 
called Straight, to which Paul referred, still is there, 
upon its original lines, venerable old path, leading from 
the city wall to the center of the town and over which 



7 6 



so many millions of human beings must have passed 
since even it has become famous by its Scriptural refer- 
ence. It is the Broadway of Damascus. The origin 
of the city is almost prehistoric, and certainly penetrates 
deeply into the mist of antiquity, because it had become 
a city of fame, when Abraham lived, since the steward 
of his house was Elizer of Damascus, as we find it 
recorded in Gen. 15-2. 

A little Jewish maid was taken from Palestine by 
the inhabitants of this ancient city and delivered to The story of the 
Naaman, a general of Syria, and became a waitress little Jewish maid, 
upon his wife. As is well known, Naaman was a leper, 
and the little captive prayed to her Lord, wishing that 
he were with the Prophet that was in Samaria, from 
whence she came, for then the General would recover 
from his leprosy. 

He was told of this prayer, and started out for 
Samaria, and meeting the Prophet, was told to wash 
himself in the River Jordan. It was then that the proud 
Damascene replied, "Are not Urbana and Pharpar Rivers 
of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel, and 
may I not zvash in them and be clean?" Being con- 
vinced, however, that the waters were at least as clean 
as those of Damascus, he washed; and we are told (II 
Kings 12-14) that he was rewarded by being healed. 

This is a Bible story, the point of which we have 
repeated, because we are sure that it has been woven 
into the imagination of many children and others who 
have read the stories of the Bible for ages, and partic- 
ularly interesting to one, when within the confines of this 
ancient city. 

One thing impressed us as particularly worthy of 
notice, and that was the beautiful suburban drives about 
Damascus in certain directions. It was our good fortune 

77 



to be favored with the friendship of the British Consul 
at Damascus, whose cultured parents in London have 
for many years been esteemed among our closest friends. 

One day we were invited by him to go with a party 
(gentlemen upon prancing Arab steeds, ladies in easy 
victorias) to visit the owner of a rich estate, some ten 
miles distant. Our course was over a perfectly level and 
beautifully macadamized road, through miles of fertile 
plains and groves of walnut, palm, fig, date, orange and 
numerous other fruit trees of unlimited variety. 

The fields were separated one from the other, gen- 
erally by straight, tall poplars, and the whole country 
was irrigated by little canals, fed by the historic Urbana. 
It was a picturesque and unusual scene to find, combined 
in luxurious growth, grains, potatoes and vegetation and 
grasses of all kinds, with fruit, nut and ornamental trees 
in the same fields. When reaching the home of his 
friend, we found it to be not unlike, in hospitable and 
generous proportions, the grand old plantation homes of 
the South. In it was the customary Oriental court, in 
the center of which was a spouting fountain, and the 
sides of which were literally covered and loaded down 
with growing and running roses of all kinds. We were 
treated to the usual bon bon confectionery and coffee, 
with which every visitor at a Moslem home is presented, 
no matter whether in a mud hut or in a palace. 

The custom is so general that, although they may 
not have a chair to offer you to sit down upon, it is 
considered an unpardonable sin not to present you with 
a variety of first-class confectionery and coffee. 

We are now perhaps running into common-place de- 
tails and occupying the space which probably could be 
better devoted to the consideration of larger matters of 
interest to the traveler and student. 



78 



Returning now to the city, I cannot refrain from 
relieving this story from the picturesque and romantic 
by allusion to the dog nuisance in the streets. Although 
the hotel beds are clean and very comfortable and the 
bazaars and stores have a businesslike and thrifty ap- 
pearance, yet here, as in every place in Syria and Tur- 
key, to which we will allude further, dogs seem to have 
preference over men in many respects. They lie, dur- 
ing the day, by hundreds upon an ordinary city block, 
upon the sidewalk, stupid and sleepy. Instead of their 
getting out of the way for passersby, the wayfarer has 
to get out of their way. In the night they prowl about 
as scavengers and live upon the rubbish and waste of 
the kitchens, which are thrown out upon the street for 
their delectation. They generally are born, reared and 
die within the precincts of two or three city blocks. If 
they go beyond their natural precinct, the penalty they 
pay is to be bounced upon by the dogs of the other 
precinct, and many actually are bitten to death. This 
has been their history for centuries. Their presence is 
not a passing inconvenience to the occasional visitor. It 
is a downright nuisance and goes a good ways in deter- 
iorating from the pleasure which one would otherwise 
enjoy in these Moslem cities. 

One day, speaking to the first lawyer of Damascus, 
to whom we were introduced by our British Consul 
friend, he told me that it would do no good to petition 
the municipality for an ordinance removing this nuisance. 
He said that the government at Constantinople was so 
autocratic that even if a tax-paying citizen should com- 
plain or present a memorial against it in any form or 
against any other grievance that might exist, his com- 
plaint would be likely attended with immediate arrest 
and imprisonment for contempt of government. He said 



79 



under the star and 
crescent 



he was quite free to express to me confidentially, as a 
stranger, his condemnation of the nuisance, but he should 
hesitate to talk it aloud to those in whom he had no 
confidence. 

I mention this incident, as well as the prevalence of 
this nuisance, to illustrate the absolutely bad government 
which everywhere prevailed under the "Star and 
Cresent." 

Visitors, subjects and citizens of foreign governments 
have, by reason of international treaties, absolute pro- 
tection of person and property. Especially is this so, 
since the great Beyrout massacre in i860, when the lives 
of twenty thousand Christians were sacrificed by the 
knife and saber of the Moslem Turks. This treaty pro- 
vided that in the event of trouble or dispute by subject 
or citizen of a foreign government, with either the gov- 
ernment of Turkey, or any of its municipalities, or any 
of its natives, that the dispute should be at once referred 
to the consul of that country there stationed, for imme- 
diate hearing and determination. This accounts for the 
fact that in the Ottoman Empire every town and city, 
from three thousand inhabitants up, have numerous con- 
suls of foreign governments at hand to protect for- 
eigners in accordance with law. But this privilege of 
protection, unfortunately, is not extended to the natives 
of the country. They are nothing but slaves to govern- 
mental oppression. The power of the Sultan was abso- 
lute and irresponsible, and through him the subordinate 
officials, everywhere, were alike, absolute and irrespon- 
sible for their official action. Such a thing as a vote 
or elective franchise or an election are words unknown 
in the Arabic language. They are as meaningless to the 
natives, rich and poor alike, as the books of Confuscius 
in China. Abject and subordinated for centuries to the 

80 



superior will of the reigning sovereign, they have lived 
always in peaceful resignation and humiliation. But a 
few months since, I received from my British friend in 
Damascus a letter, in which he brought to my attention 
the wonderful change that has been wrought in the gov- 
ernment of the empire, as well as in Damascus, since 
we were there in April last, and about which we have 
all heard. 

I was interested in reading in his letter the special 
reference by him to this lawyer, whom he introduced 
me to, and who explained the situation, as I have stated. 
He wrote to me in substance : "Think of it, our mutual 
friend who dared hardly whisper to you his opinion 
concerning the dog nuisance last spring, has had the 
membership from Damascus offered him in the consti- 
tutional parliament at Constantinople, where we expect 
soon to see and hear him declaim against existing muni- 
cipal wrongs, including the dog nuisance, and this now, 
with the applause of his countrymen and the sanction 
of the Sultan." 

Wonderful change this, so sudden a revolution with- 
out blood or struggle. I was not surprised, however, 
to learn of this revolution, for everywhere and from the 
lips of everybody, who conversed at all, upon the sub- 
ject, natives and foreigners alike, we heard nothing but 
grumbling criticism of existing affairs. This forbode 
of course the storm that was coming, and when at last 
the electricity became so strong in the political atmos- 
phere that it could no longer be self-contained, it shot 
forth like lightning in the sky, followed by such a rain 
of public sentiment of the many against the few, that 
they had nothing to do but to yield, and hence this sud- 
den but irresistible revolution. 

Damascus is the political capitol of Syria. The 



Grumbling criticism 
everywhere fore- 
bode the storm of 
revolution. 



81 



Baalbek the lace- 
work ruins of 
antiquity. 



official title of the Shah, is Waly. He governs the coun- 
try bordering upon Egypt to a point north of Haymath. 
The principal provinces over which he has jurisdiction 
are Beyrout, Acca and Jerusalem. There are quite a few 
Christians here, living, however, in what we call the 
Christian quarters. They do not mix socially or in a 
business way much, if any, with the Moslem population. 
It is as far back as 634 that the old city fell into the 
hands of the Moslems. It was the center around which 
the greatest conflicts of the Moslem armies, immediately 
following the death of the Prophet, waged. Their hold 
has ever been strong, although evidence of decline is 
beginning on every hand to show itself in the rule of 
the Moslem faith. 

We now leave Damascus for Beyrout, a part of 
Syria, upon the Mediterranean coast. To do so, how- 
ever, we are obliged to pass over the Lebanon range of 
mountains. About half way, and in the midst of a great 
and beautiful plain, we come to old Baalbek, once the 
center of the Roman and Grecian power, art and religious 
worship, as well, now but an impoverished valley with 
the grand old ruins of its temples to rescue the place 
itself from oblivion. 

One thing can be said with certainty concerning the 
ruins at Baalbek, and that is that they are the most 
magnificent to be found in the world. 

In the first place, the stone and marble used in their 
construction was of the hardest and the best possible 
quality obtainable. The workmanship, especially upon 
the temple of Bacchus, was of the highest skill and 
exquisitely executed. The entrance doors in some of 
these temples are so beautifully arched and elegantly 
carved that the sculptor has left an impression to the 



82 



eye, when viewing it a short distance, that it is lace work, 
spread over the masonry. 

To undertake anything like a description of these 
ruins in particular, would require a small work of itself. 
It sufficeth to say, that the great monstrous stones, which 
enter into the construction of their foundations, in some 
instances weighing thousands of tons apiece, the quality 
of the marble used and the perfection of sculpturing 
attained in the workmanship upon their fluted columns 
and classic caps, together with the setting which they 
have, in the midst of one of the most beautiful plains in 
the world, give them a unique appearance. With a back- 
ground in the near distance of mountains covered with 
snow, even in the spring and summer time, being over- 
arched with one of the most beautiful skies in all the 
world, a perfect, porcelain blue, all combine to make this 
an exhibition of ancient ruins extremely charming. From 
Baalbek to Beyrout the route is picturesque, with moun- 
tain scenery, and as you ascend the summit of the Leba- 
non range and look down ten or fifteen miles ahead of 
you, with the blue Mediterranean Sea in the far distance, 
with the great plains before you at your feet, you are 
treated to a landscape scene of rare beauty, such as is sel- 
dom afforded anywhere on earth. When finally we reach 
Beyrout, we then are in the principal port and commer- 
cial city of Syria. It is an up-to-date, modern town, 
where the hum of industry and activity in commerce are 
apparent on every hand. The American college, with 
its grand buildings, is here to be found, an institution 
of which all English speaking people, and especially 
Americans, are justly proud. It is complete in its organ- 
ization and facilities for the highest education of its 
students, all of whom are native Syrians. 



Beyrout hums with 
industries and 
commerce. 



83 



American college at 
Jeyrout of far 
eaching influence. 



This college, we were proud to learn, has extended 
a far-reaching, civilizing and Christianizing influence 
throughout all Syria. The wealthiest of the Syrian fami- 
lies, and even those of Palestine, send their young men 
here to be educated, and even many of the Moslem 
faith, for the college is strictly educational. 

It is conceded by every traveler throughout the Holy 
Land and Syria, that the one great thing needed is the 
education of the masses. Intelligence and education are 
the eternal foes of slavery and oppression. They are the 
civilizers and Christianizers of barbarous countries. 
With these elements, the educated few will forever 
oppress the many, without them and without which there 
is no material progress in matters of business, industry, 
arts, sciences or government. The good influence which 
one young educated Turk in a little Syrian village such as 
Baalbek, as an illustration, has, is incalculable in many 
directions. It makes him a philosopher and reasoner on 
matters pertaining to the rights of his impoverished 
neighbors. It broadens his charity toward them. It 
strengthens his energy to organize in a hundred direc- 
tions for their good. He, in short, unconsciously but 
surely, sooner or later, becomes the village guide and 
philosopher. His example forces admiration of his char- 
acter, and if he be a Christian, his virtue argues to the 
ignorant observers about him the superiority of his faith 
to which he is devoted. 

I have information from a reliable source that the 
recent great revolutionary movements in the Ottoman 
Empire were originated and pushed to a successful issue 
because of the young educated Turks of the country. 
Thus we have a practical demonstration of the powerful 
influence for good, which education and general intelli- 
gence have in these Oriental countries. 



84 



CHAPTER VI. 




Asia Minor and Constantinople. 

AILING from Beyrout westward from the 
Mediterranean, we have now left behind 
us that country which has been the cradle 
of religious history, although we have not 
yet left all the scenes in the early develop- 
ment of the Christian Church. We have 
yet to call at Smyrna and Ephesus, the original western 
frontiers of the early Christian civilization. It is be- 
cause of the particular interest attached to this feature 
of their existence that induced us to stop over here on 
our way to Constantinople. When we arrived at Smyrna 
we found, contrary to the general idea entertained by 
one who has not been there, a large, bustling commercial 
city of over three hundred thousand inhabitants, com- 
posed of Romans, Greeks, Armenians, Arabs and num- 
erous other populations. It rivals in commercial import- 
ance almost any port of the Mediterranean, having direct 
communication with the principal markets of Europe and 
the Levant. Its annual export trade alone is about 
$30,000,000, while its imports are about $25,000,000. It 
is, of course, of very ancient origin, running through 
which is a small perennial stream on whose banks, accord- 
ing to tradition, its most distinguished inhabitant, the 
great Homer, was born. It is in this old city that the 
poetry of that most distinguished of all ancient poets 
flourished. It was, therefore, in the remote past, the 
center of literature and education, the claim to which it 
has never fully relinquished. Evidence of this is found 
in the fact that it has a great museum and library to-day, 



Smyrna and Ephe- 
sus the early west- 
ern frontier of 
Christianity. 



85 



containing many marble sculptures, terra-cottas and glass 
objects. The library contains alone over thirty thousand 
volumes and two hundred manuscripts, very old, while 
other collections of antiquities are found in the gardens 
of the Ottoman Lyceum and churchyards. Christianity 
prospered at an early date in this city in which was 
situated one of the celebrated seven churches of Asia ; 
although there were other cities where these churches 
were constructed, which have entirely disappeared or but 
faint traces of which remain, mentioned in the Apoca- 
lypse, old Smyrna is the only one which to any extent 
enjoys its original magnificance and power. From here we 
go back in the interior of the country to pay our respects 
to poor, old Ephesus, once the glory of the Orient, now 
a prostrate corpse, buried beneath heaps of sand and 
rubbish. Here it is where the celebrated Temple of 
Diana was situated. The name of this temple is familiar 
to every school boy, having acquired perhaps the first 
reputation in the world. This temple has also been im- 
mortalized by the graphic description given to it by the 
apostolic accounts and which say that "all Asia and all 
the world worshipped the great goddess," after whom this 
splendid relic of antiquity was named. It is said that the 
Ephesians even prided themselves as possessing the priv- 
ilege of sweeping its temple, so magnificent and sacred 
were these precincts. Ephesus was for many centuries 
deredTortfT his" tne nea< ^ °^ tne Asiatic churches. The most distinguished 

eloquent sermons. apostles and champions of the early Christian cause had 

allied themselves with this church. Here it was that 
St. Paul thundered forth many of his most eloquent 
sermons ; that St. Timothy and St. John exerted their 
greatest efforts to stimulate and popularize the primitive 
growth of the Christian faith. St. Luke here lived, 
preached, died and was buried. The tomb in which he 

86 



St. Paul here thun- 



was interred still exists or at least is pointed out, with 
the sacred emblem of the bull, which was his symbol of 
religion, carved upon its entrance, an unmistakable proof 
that it was here where the body of the learned apostle 
was entombed. Ephesus was also the favorite of the 
Roman emperors, who visited upon it many imperial 
favors after the period of Constantine, and it was here 
that Justinian built a magnificent cathedral, upon the hill, 
behind the ancient temple, the ruins of which are now 
to be clearly seen. 

History records that during the middle ages Ephesus 
was the central place on the way from Europe to the 
Holy Land, over which the Christians and the pilgrims 
marched. This was the favorite place at which they 
all stopped to worship at the shrine of St. John, whose 
sepulchre was held in the greatest veneration and was 
as sacred to them almost as the Holy Sepulchre in Jeru- 
salem. Here, too, still remains the ruins of a great 
theatre at Ephesus, one of the largest in Asia, seating 
about thirty thousand persons. Its sixty-six rows of 
seats, several stories and great stage are still to be seen, 
the larger part of which glistens with slabs of marble, 
it being the ancient custom for orators to address the 
people upon all popular subjects in which their physical, 
material, as well as spiritual welfare were involved. 

There is little, if any doubt, but what it was in this 
structure, the very platform of which can at this day be 
seen, from which St. Paul preached with an eloquence 
never since equalled in the Christian pulpit. 

Later on, during or in the middles ages, the Moslem 
power and destructive rule was extended westward far 
beyond Asia Minor. The city fell gradually into decay, 
and like most all other places, became ruined and de- 

87 



Passing the plains 
of Troy, famed by 
Homeric song. 



stroyed by the poisonous fangs of the unholy faith and 
practices of this barbarous sect. 

Returning now to resume our westward Mediter- 
ranean trip, a few observations on the way to Con- 
stantinople may not be amiss. From Smyrna all the way, 
occupying a journey of several days, we skirt closely to 
the coast of Asia Minor and pass many beautiful islands 
in the Archipelago and through the Straits of Dar- 
danelles, up through the Sea of Marmara. All the way 
can be seen rich fields and beautiful mountains and small 
towns here and there dotting the seacoast. There are 
many historic islands, among which are Lemnos and 
Mitylene. We also pass by the plains of Troy, made 
famous in Homeric song, and up through the Dardanelles 
or Hellespont, the passage of which has caused many a 
heroic conflict as the hosts of the East were at this 
point obstructed by the defenders of the West. We 
finally reach Constantinople, the great hillside city of the 
East, glistening with a hundred minareted mosques. 

This capital of the Ottoman Empire really consists of 
two cities, divided by the River Golden Horn, to wit, 
Pera, inhabited by European population, and Stamboul, 
by the Mohammedans. They are divided by the river and 
connected with an old wooden bridge about one thou- 
sand feet in length. The former contains a population of 
about half a million, the latter the same, making a total 
approximately of one million. 

The filth, dirt and Oriental life of which we hear so 
much in Constantinople, is almost exclusively found in 
Stamboul, while Pera presents an appearance of thrift, 
elegance and architectural beauty of many of its build- 
ings equal to any city of similar population on the West- 
ern Hemisphere. All the mosques, with possibly one or 
two unimportant exceptions, are found in Stamboul. We 



88 



begin in Pera to feel the influence of Western civiliza- 
tion and to see less goimis and fezes in the city of 
Constantinople than in the preceding places which we 
have described. 

Here the Greek and the Jew as well, yield an im- 
mense influence upon the commercial, social and religious 
life and domestic habits. It has often been said that 
Constantinople is the key to the East. By this, it is 
meant, from a military point of view, that if the Bos- 
phorous and the Dardanelles were open to the free 
manaeuvers of European nations that would utilize the 
Black Sea as a base of naval supply and operations, the 
whole Mediterranean to the East would be thus com- 
manded and put at the mercy of the nation or nations 
thus having control. For many centuries the natural 
situation of the place has been the envy of ambitious 
nations and the subject of numerous treaties. 

Rome abandoned the imperial city on the Tiber and 
moved its capitol here because, chiefly of its strategetic 
situation, and thus the more easily to acquire control 
over its Eastern provinces. 

Constantine was its first great emperor, who here built 
his palace upon the heights of Stamboul and commenced 
construction of the great walls about the city completed 
by Theodosius, and which to this day remain almost 
intact. Thus the capitol of the Ottoman Empire bears 
the name of its first Roman emperor. Later on it 
became the principal point of attack during the middle 
ages from the barbarous legions of the East, and it 
was here that the last struggle of the Roman power 
was made, in defense of its walls. It was here that the 
last spark of Roman life as such, was extinguished, and 
its star of proud military glory which it once had, went 
down. The Mohammedans having finally succeded in 



Ancient Rome 
abandoned as 
Imperial Capital for 
Constantinople. 



8 9 



the thirteenth century in planting the banner of Islam 
upon its walls, have ever since remained in occupation 
and established within its palace the head of its religion, 
in the person of the Sultan. In him is centered all the 
spiritual power, accredited to his predecessor, Moham- 
med, and the civil power of the government as well. The 
Mohammedan religion is as devoutly followed here, per- 
haps if not more so, than any city professing the Moslem 
faith. 

San Sophia still remains upon the summit of the 
ancient hill, a landmark even of early Christian faith, 
because this is the structure which Justinian built in 
the sixth century, designing that it should be the 
greatest monument to Christ as a place of worship, 
in point of richness and elegance, in the world. It has 
not been materially changed. Seven hundred years after- 
wards the Moslems converted it into a place for their 
worship. We are told that the great central dome in 
some respects was changed and re-constructed, to make 
the place conform to the prescribed method of Moslem 
worship. They recognize but one God, and while there 
are various distinct sects, they insist that they have but 
one God to worship, to whom they unitedly and at one 
time offer up their prayers whatever the minor differ- 
ences are with regard to other matters of belief. Among 
other celebrated mosques of Stamboul, is the mosque of 
Sultan Selim, which stands on the fifth hill, and was 
built by Suleyman, the magnificent, in honor of his 
father, Selim, the First. It is small, but possesses the 
largest dome in Constantinople. Then, again, is the 
Suleyman Mosque, built a little less than five hundred 
years ago, and is said by many to be the finest of all 
the buildings erected as mosques in the city. We simply 
make mention in passing of a few of these structures, 



90 



because they are the places most talked about, to be seen 
when in the city, although to me of the least interest, 
simply because I firmly believe that there is no religion 
or moral principle at the bottom of their worship. 

The bazaars of Constantinople are fine, perhaps the 
finest of all the Oriental cities. Rugs from all Persia 
and Eastern countries find a market here. Thousands of 
red-fezzed brilliantly colored gowned Turks sit on their 
legs in the wall recesses of the bazaars selling all manner 
of silk, rugs and carpets to the passersby. Jewelry and 
trinkets of all kinds are here manufactured. Not in 
great factories as in the West, but in small places, as 
you see them along the streets and in small shops. Here 
is where the artisans do their work in the East, and 
this, to a large extent, accounts for the absence of all 
factories, as in our own and other countries, where great 
aggregations of labor under one roof, with machinery 
are organized to accomplish big results. 

The ride up the Bosphorous by numerous small steam- 
ers that frequently ply between the city and near the 
southern borders of the Black Sea is regarded by all 
as one of the softest and most picturesque in all Europe. 
Skiriting the banks of the strait, which is not over a 
mile in width, are to be seen numerous villas and palaces, 
together with beautiful towns, all evincing superior social 
and domestic life, along its banks. Across the bay from 
Constantinople, about two miles away, is Scutari. This 
is in Asia, and is a part of the municipality of Constan- 
tinople, travel between which two places is facilitated 
by numerous small ferry boats. This is a Mohammedan 
section, with bad streets, no particular history, containing 
as its principal point of interest the Church of the Howl- 
ing Dervishes, where two or three times a week these 
fanatical Mohammedans assemble and ply their trade, as 



The bazaars of 
Constantinople, the 
best in the Orient. 



Artisans in the East 
work in streets. 
In the West in 
factories. 



91 



Howling Dervishes 

go like shuttle cock which they call worship 

machines. 



Dervishes worship 
with whirl and gig 
and a few sharp 
yells. 



it would seem to the casual observer, for coin, osten- 
sibly professing to be followers of the faith of Moham- 
med, according to the particular tenets of their belief. 
They carry on in public, upon the floor of a great room 
where all can see, a sort of vocal and athletic exercise, 

About a dozen at a time will 
form a circle, and while in a sitting posture, look upward 
and downward with that rapidity of motion that would 
reflect credit upon the quickness of a shuttle cock ma- 
chine. Loosing breath for an instant, their motion ceases, 
and then groans issue forth and weird yells, which, to 
the observer would seem to indicate that they are carried 
off in the ecstacy of their spiritual feeling to regions 
above, communing with their beloved prophet. 

As their groans cease and their muscles become 
rested, they start in again, and before the wind-up, they 
have performed every possible athletic feat that the 
human form is possible of executing, you might say. 
With a whirl and a gig and a few sharp yells, the 
ceremony is over, the visitor is out his fifty cents, and 
the money is afterwards divided between them. This 
has become such a shameful exhibition of human deprav- 
ity for many years that it has even shamed the Moslem 
authorities, and it looks now as though it will soon be a 
thing of the past, because of certain official restraints 
being imposed upon the performers. In Scutari also is 
an American woman's college, organized for the same 
purpose and patronized substantially by the same class 
of families as the American college at Beyrout. It has 
prospered immensely, and is wielding a powerful influ- 
ence for good throughout the whole empire. We visited 
this college and met many of the teachers and scholars, 
and were more than pleased to see upon every hand 
evidence of their strength and rapid development. The 



92 



institution is fast reflecting honor upon our country. One 
thing which evinces the growing estrangement between 
the followers of the Moslem and Christian religions in 
Constantinople, is the fact that until recently foreigners 
could visit all of the great mosques without official per- 
mission. Now it is required that permission must be 
first obtained from, and a request made by the consul of 
the country of which the visitor is a subject or citizen, 
duly authenticated by all technical formality. Even this 
does not suffice. The visitor is obliged to have an official 
attendant from the consul's office, in uniform, to accom- 
pany him with the credentials of the consul, to the 
mosque he intends to visit. It involves an interminable 
amount of trouble and unnecessary ceremony, but it 
seems to be now an inexorable exaction of the author- 
ities, the primary purpose of which is to discourage 
Christians from entering the portals of their sacred insti- 
tutions. 



Visitors now must 
have their consul's 
credentials to visit 
mosques. 



93 



CHAPTER VII. 

Greece. 

RAILING from Constantinople to Piraeus, 
which occupies two or three days, we are 




continuing the beautiful sea voyage that 
we have had all the way from Beyrout, 
with the same general landscape scenery, 
soft and balmy atmosphere and clear skies. 
We pass innumerable islands of historic interest. 
When approaching Piraeus, we first see the port of 
Athens. In ancient times the city limits extended to 
this port, which is but several miles away from the 
center of the city or acropolis. At last we have entered 
the ancient city of Grecian art, literature and science. 
First to behold of prominence, rising out from the midst 
of the city, is the sugar loaf mount, Lycabetus, upon the 
summit of which is an ancient monastery and chapel. 
I had never before heard of this feature of Athens spoken 
of, and therefore to me it was a surprise to see so lofty 
a mountain pinnacle as this, rising as it were out of the 
very city itself, being at its base not over a quarter of 
a mile, and at its summit less than three hundred feet, 
while it runs up with a very sharp slope at least seventy- 
five degrees right angle, perhaps not less than eight 
hundred feet from the city below. This, of course, has 
no particular historical importance, but we confused it 
in the distance as being the famous acropolis, although 
the buildings lacked the colonnade effect of the Par- 
thenon, as viewed from a point further away. When 
coming nearer, however, we discovered our mistake, 
and rising up in another section of the city can 



94 



be seen the old classic Parthenon standing like a sentinel, 
old and grim, upon the pinnacle of the acropolis hill or 
mountain, with its thousands of years of tragic history. 

The acropolis must originally have been a fortress, 
like that at Mycenae. It probably is a mile further dis- 
tant from the sea. It is situated upon a mountainous 
or hilly pinnacle, so as to facilitate the retreat of its 
defenders and to watch as a place of safety in case of 
danger apprehended from the water, and at the same 
time observe from their high altitude the country sur- 
rounding. The plateau on the top of the acropolis is 
about one thousand feet in length and five hundred feet 
in width. It is, generally speaking, a level spot, and 
contains the three famous ancient structures, the Par- 
thenon, Erechtheum and the Propylaea. The Propylaea 
was the great entrance structure to the acropolis proper, 
and famous in antiquity perhaps as among the greatest 
oriental productions in the city, having a very ancient 
origin, at least four hundred years B. C. It consists of 
Pentelic marble, which is quarried off in the Pentelic 
range of mountains, about ten miles away. Next to it is 
the little temple of Nike, once nearly destroyed and 
now partly restored. It is a part, you might say, of 
the Propylaea itself, as it appears from below and was 
built to commemorate the Athenian victories of Mara- 
thon, Plataea and Salamis. 

This recalls to mind the greatest historic fact in the 
life of the nation from primitive times, and that is their 
wonderful racial unity ; although in the early history of 
the Hellenic people, they were divided by innumerable 
contentions over territorial possessions, and were always 
in a state of more or less political disintegration, re-com- 
bination and petty jealousies. This was the internal side 
of their national life, but whenever it came to be a ques- 



Parthenon is on a 
mountainous pin- 
nacle, rather than 
hill. 



Greeks fought 
among themselves, 
but united against 
the world. 



95 



tion between the Grecian and Hellenic people, as against 
the outside world, they were generally united. Among 
the other ancient relics to which we would call attention 
in passing, is the Arch of Hadrian, with the Temple of 
Jupiter, which separated ancient Athens from the mod- 
ern town, as the inscriptions carved on the friezes indi- 
cate ; for it says : "This is the Athens of Thesus, the 
ancient city," and on the opposite side: "This is the 
city of Hadrian, and not that of Thesus." 

Again, we find on the splendid Temple of Jubiter that 
there only remain a few columns of the Corinthian style, 
but they present an exceptionally classic and majestic 
appearance. Much history attaches to this old temple. 
We cannot refrain from mentioning the old Stadium, 
where the Panotheanic games were celebrated. The 
Stadium was constructed about three hundred B. C. by a 
Grecian orator named Lykourgos, whose name is sec- 
ond only in fame among the ancient statesmen and 
orators of Athens to that of Demosthenes. 

A few years ago it was rebuilt on the old foundation 
and lines and restored, at great expense, to its original 
appearance. This was done by a wealthy Athenian, who 
thus manifested that pride of country and ambition to 
further its artistic development to which we have already 
alluded as a national characteristic of the Greeks. 

It was constructed of Pentelic marble, and said to 
have been able to have seated fifty thousand spectators. 
We all recall the familiar fact that it was with a decree 
of the city of Athens, that the ashes of Atticus were 
interred here and now remain in peace, immortalized 
forever by this, one of the greatest monuments to man. 
From the Stadium to Marathon, it is said to be twenty- 
six miles. It was from that battle field to the Stadium 
that the ancient races took place, covering a period of 

96 



many centuries, the winners in which were the ones who 
would first reach its center before the eyes of fifty thou- 
sand spectators, amidst the deafening applause with 
which they were honored. These races were made to 
commemorate the great victory of the Greeks over the 
Persians on the field of Marathon and to engrave for- 
ever in the memory of the people recollections of the 
victory upon that historic field. The form of the cele- 
bration was suggested by the fact that immediately 
upon the triumph of the Grecian arms, an athletic mes- 
senger was sent by foot from Marathon to Athens, 
with the utmost speed to herald the glorious news to 
the Athenians, who were assembled upon the spot of the 
Stadium to hear the news. The young man, however, 
had put forth such a tremendous effort to deliver the 
message that he reached within a few yards of the city 
limits in an unprecedented short period of time, but his 
physical exercise was so great that he fell dead just 
before handing the message to the anxious populace. 

This was the origin of the great Marathon races. 
It is said, to win a prize in these races was an honor 
which immortalized the name of the winner, and was 
esteemed the greatest which a private citizen could 
acquire in the estimation of the nation, ranking him as 
an object of admiration equal to the greatest of its 
orators, sculptors or statesmen. It was our pleasure to 
take a carriage ride from the very portals of the Stadium 
to the battle field of Marathon, to go over the very 
road over which these races were run. A fascinating 
ride was this, over the beautiful valley, level as a table 
most of the way, between ranges of mountains in the 
distance, passing by innumerable olive tree groves, pic- 
turesque in the extreme. An old inn is just half way 
between the Stadium and the monument of the battle 



To be first in 
Marathon race 
immortalized the 
winner. 



97 




Monument at Marathon. 

Greece. 
(From our original photograph,) 



field, at which it is said, the faithful messenger stopped 
for refreshments. We could not resist the temptation 
of stopping there for the same purpose and to hear the 
ancient story from the lips of some of the inhabitants 
thereabouts, claiming to be descendants of those who 
lived in the valley when these historic events occurred. 
Like Waterloo, there was a great earth mound put by the 
ancients upon the center of the battle field, to per- 
petuate the memory of a great victory. It still remains 
and we are pleased to present herewith a representation 
of the same as it appears to-day. It was not the great 
numbers involved in this conflict, nor the many lives 
sacrificed upon this field, nor the reputation of Miltiades, 
nor the fact that it was Greek against Medes and 
Persians that have made this battle classic in ancient 
history, and ranking it among the first in importance. 
It is because the Greeks there dealt the first deadly blozv 
to the mighty hosts of barbarians from the East, who 
were fast overrunning Western civilization, and gave 
them such a setback that thereafter their power in the 
West began to wane, and they made no more trium- 
phant marches toward the setting sun. Had the vic- 
tory been with the Medes and Persians, it is seriously 
questionable whether we would have had any Europe 
of to-day, but instead, that continent would most prob- 
ably have been at this time steeped as lowly in human 
degredation and stupidity as the people of the Eastern 
Empires now are. 

The statuary found in the many excavations in 
Greece and its Islands during the past fifty years has 
thrown a sidelight upon its ancient art which before was 
only known in fable and song. The spade of the exca- 
vator has brought to the surface the originals of its 
greatest sculptors, including Praxitilles and Pheidias, and 



A great mound like 
Waterloo perpet- 
uates Marathon 
victory. 



99 



among which were found the Hermes of the former, and 
Athena Panthenos of the latter. The most important 
of these discoveries have been found at Mycenae, and 
Delphi, the two great art centers of antiquity. Even 
the statue of Demosthenes, the master orator of the 
ancients, has been turned up, and we can now look 
upon his features and finely shaped head. We hesitate 
to close our reference to charming old Athens, and reluct- 
antly do so, as we reluctantly left it ; but there is so much 
more to say about its many subjects of interest, that in 
order to do them justice, it would require several chapters. 
We therefore omit all allusion to them ; we can only refer 
to the fact that as Americans, we were proud to learn 
again that the great work of discovery and excavation, 
which has of recent years been crowned with such mag- 
nificent rewards, was largely performed by our fellow 
citizen, the late Dr. Schliemann. 



ioo 



CHAPTER VIII. 




Austria. 

AILING north from Patras, the western 
port of Greece, along the Dalmatian coast 
of the Adriatic Sea, to the southern port 
of Austria, Trieste, is charming. It is 
justly celebrated for its wonderful variety 
of scenery and its matchless softness and 
picturesqueness. The clear, blue sky, so characteristic of 
southern Europe, the exquisite color of the sea water 
as it seems to rest so quietly sheltered behind hundreds 
of fascinating islands reflected in its mirror surface and 
by innumerable inlets as well, all combine to enthuse and 
excite the admiration of travelers. 

At Trieste, we first see the Austro-Hungary com- 
merce, as this is its only port of importance. A city 
of much business importance, not unattractive in appear- 
ance, we remained here but long enough to ride out and 
see the principal point of historical interest, the Castle 
Marama, owned and once occupied by Maximillian, 
the ill-fated Mexican emperor, and brother of the reign- 
ing sovereign of Austria. Here, too, his unfortunate 
Queen Carlotta lived and was thrown into madness on 
hearing of the lamentable fate of her husband, who was 
shot on the charge of conspiracy against the lawful 
government of Mexico. It is said that, on learning that 
her every effort, and that of the powerful influence of 
his brother had been exhausted, but could not save the 
life of her husband, she grieved herself into a hopeless 
maniac. She still survives, cared for by tender friends, 
a raving lunatic, reveling rashly in hallucinations con- 
cerning her beloved spouse now dead over forty years. 



Ill-fated Maximillian 
shot in Mexico 
lived here. 



IOI 




ttj 



rt 



< 

8. « 



From Trieste, we went to Fiume, and from thence to 
Abbazia, Austria's seaside resort. To our surprise, we 
found here a place that rivals Monte Carlo in size and 
beautiful hotels, but far surpassing it in natural beauty. 
It is to this place that the aristocracy and royalty of 
Austro-Hungary come during the spring and summer 
seasons. 

From here we proceeded to Vienna by way of Buda- 
pest. We now are in Hungary proper, the largest and 
richest half of the Austrian empire. Although there is 
much rich land in Europe, none equals the fertility of 
the soil upon the great plains of Hungary. 

Budapest, the ancient capitol of the country, lies in 
the midst of all this fertility (upon the banks of the 
Danube), one of the most beautiful cities of the world, 
teeming with a population of 850,000 stirring souls. 
It is the concensus of opinion by travelers who have 
visited here, that it ranks in natural beauty of location, 
cleanliness of streets, architectural beauty of public and 
private structures among the finest in the world, and 
perhaps possesses the highest standard of average attrac- 
tiveness everywhere within its limits, than any other, 
excepting Athens. Most prominent among the beautiful 
public buildings are the Palace and its Parliament. The 
former is upon a high promontory, rising at a height of 
several hundred feet from the bank of the Danube, of 
immense size and artistic adornment, of the most beau- 
tiful character. Set in and surrounded by grounds and 
extensive gardens extending in gradual slopes down in 
all directions, a landscape scene of matchless charm is 
presented as viewed from the city's center. The sad 
part of it all is that it has not been occupied for nearly 
a century by the emperors, since the palaces at Vienna 
and Schonbrunn have attracted their exclusive attention. 



Average beauty cf 
Budapest excels all 
cities except 
Athens. 



103 



Hungary seriously 
inimical to the 
Empire. 



The public monuments in granite and bronze are more 
numerous here than elsewhere, commemorating its ora- 
tors, statesmen and patriots, and distinguished men of 
arts and sciences. Unlike other cities, we observed no 
monument to a military hero, evincing a peace loving 
race, attached more to the refined side of life tban to 
the gory field of strife. 

That the Hungarian people are inimical to the Aus- 
trians, and a division of the empire and restoration to 
its ancient limits in the near future is most probable, 
was officially published to the world last June, on the 
sixtieth anniversary jubilee of the reign of Francis 
Joseph. While but a few sovereigns have reigned so 
long at any time in history, and the jubilee, of course, 
supposed to be of special pride and importance to the 
subjects of the empire, yet, strange to say, that out of 
the 100,000 participants in the grand procession and 
pageantry that honored the emperor with their presence, 
there was not a single Hungarian province, city or organ- 
isation represented. 

The grievance complained of is, that they do not get 
their share of imperial favors and are in many ways 
more or less ignored, as indicated by the one fact alone, 
that their magnificent palace has not been occupied for 
over seventy years. 

The parliament buildings and the palace of Justice 
are conceded to rival any of their kind, the former being 
a close second to Westminster, the latter equalling the 
famous Palace of Justice in Brussels. Means of trans- 
portation are of the best, having electric lines and bustling 
subways, while the horses and carriages are like their 
buildings, the subject of municipal control as to style and 
appearance. Every team and horse for public hire, and 
vehicle as well, must be of fine appearance and best con- 



104 



dition, the violation of which requirement is penalized 
by an order off the street. This is the only place where 
official control in this most commendable manner is ex- 
ercised of which I know. 



VIENNA. 

The capital of Austria is certainly a beautiful city. 
It is picturesquely situated upon an arm (Wein) of the 
Danube, and at the base of an abrupt mountainous cliff, 
the sides and slopes of which are in high state of cul- 
tivation, the celebrated Ringstrasse occupying the site 
of the old fortifications. That part of the city known 
as the Stadt is the quarter where are found the chief 
churches, museums, galleries, imperial palaces, elegant 
stores and fashionable residences of the nobility. The pub- 
lic and private buildings of interest are so many that even 
a recital of them, even without description, would prove 
tiresome to read. The Church of St. Stephens, however, 
cannot be passed by as one of the finest specimens of 
Gothic architecture in Europe, the present structure hav- 
ing been finished in 1433. Excelling in interest St. Ste- 
phen's is the Capuchin Church, which contains the burial 
vault, or is in fact the tomb of the imperial family. 
Here lie entombed in heavy granite or metal sarcophigi 
more than fifty members of royalty, not the least notice- 
able being that of the Duke of Reichstadt, son of Napo- 
leon I, resting here among his maternal ancestors. One 
would suspect from the appearance of the little weather 
beaten old structure, a sketch of which is herewith pre- 
sented, hedged in by dilapidated buildings on either side 
that it is the sepulchre to which the remains of the royal 
family of a great empire for centuries have been con- 
signed and now remain. There is nothing that makes 
human power and pomp appear so vain and fleeting as to 



King of Rome, son 
of Napoleon, buried 
with maternal 
ancestors. 



105 




Capucine Church. 
Vienna. 

(From our original photograph.) 



look upon a carload of dead monarchs and princes like 
these all resting at last in a simple tomb, reduced to 
nothingness. 

The H of burg, or Imperial Palace in the centre of the 
city, the Imperial Museums, rich with their contents of 
bronzes, mosaics and antiquities of all kinds, Picture 
Galleries, and the Arsenal, containing military trophies 
and relics are popular places of visitation by strangers. 
Among the most conspicuous of the public buildings 
are the Palace of Justice, the Imperial Museums of natur- 
al history and art (corresponding to our own Museum 
of Natural History, but not so large or interesting), 
the Houses of Parliament, to my mind the finest in 
Europe, the University, containing a library of 350,000 
volumes, while other innumerable institutions of interest 
exist, not the least among which is the public hospital, 
the largest in Europe, accommodating over 2,200 patients. 
The famous park is the Prater, being several large 
estates thrown together, through the center of which 
runs a boulevard several miles in length, skirted on 
either side by innumerable cafes and places of amuse- 
ment. 

The magnificent stores of this brilliant city are the 
subject of universal admiration, and well might they be, 
for there are miles of the most beautiful exhibition of 
all sorts of wares and merchandise in windows of excep- 
tional attraction. 

Among the hotels of Vienna are to be found many 
fine ones: the Bristol being among the most fashion- 
able, and the Kaiserine Elizabeth classed as among the 
most comfortable. We beg the indulgence of our readers 
for alluding to a subject of so commonplace nature, but 
since the hostleries of Austria's great capital are famous 
for their excellence, as their coffee is distinguished for 



107 



Waeram a suburb, 
but unknown here 
generally. 



its deliciousness, even a brief account would not be 
complete without some reference to the subject. 

The suburban points of interest are many and very 
accessible, the most frequented being Kohlenberg and 
Leopoldsberg, both of which command very beautiful 
views of the city and surrounding country. Schonbrunn 
is really in the city limits, and I should hardly classify 
it as a suburb any more than Harlem is a suburb of 
New York. One suburb, however, of Vienna is never 
spoken of as such in the guide-books, and to most 
visitors is unknown. It is Wagram, but ten miles away, 
on the opposite side of the Danube. Here it was that 
the great battle bearing that name was fought in 1809, 
by the French under Napoleon, with 90,000 men, and 
the Austrians under the Archduke Charles, brother of 
the emperor, with 150,000, the flower of the empire's 
infantry and cavalry, resulting in one of Napoleon's 
most glorious triumphs and in Austria's most crushing 
defeat. Over forty thousand are said to have lost their 
lives upon this field, French and Austrians in common. 

So historic and far-reaching in its consequences upon 
the affairs of Europe and the imperial family of Austria 
was this battle that even it has been the subject of dra- 
matic exhibition upon the stage by that matchless member 
of her profession, Maud Adams, in L'Aiglon. As the 
Duke of Reichstadt, who, that ever witnessed her part, 
can forget their compassion for the unfortunate son of 
Napoleon, which, by her genius, was so dramatically ex- 
cited in scenes occurring upon this famous field and its 
neighboring palaces. It was the victory here that united 
the Corsican blood to that of the Hapsburghs. Yet not 
a monument is found to mark the place ; not even the 
inhabitants of the plains, where the conflict was waged, 



108 



know that it occurred; not a guide in Vienna can direct 
you how to go there, and I am sure few, if any, ever heard 
of the battle. 

While in Vienna, it was our special privilege to wit- 
ness the sixtieth anniversary of the reign of Francis 
Joseph. Every province and principality, from the Tyro- 
lean Mountains to the Adriatic Sea, excepting those in 
Hungary, were represented in the grand procession. 

It was a bright day. The pomp and pageantry exhib- 
ited in this procession, representing as it did, the ancient 
customs of the empire, and costumes as well, presented 
a sight never to be forgotten. As we sat upon a seat, 
the procession took from ten in the morning till four in 
the afternoon to pass by the same. All the resources and 
influence of the empire were exerted to excite and arouse 
a participation on the part of the nation in this pageantry, 
and well did they respond to this effort, because over 
100,000 were said to have marched in the line. Anything 
like a detailed description of it would lengthen this nar- 
rative too much. The principal features of interest seem- 
ingly most prominent were thousands of the descendants 
of distinguished Austrian ancestors and of the noble fami- 
lies and princes marching along in the actual uniforms 
and costumes of their forefathers, and upon their backs 
and breasts, and in their arms were the same old imple- 
ments of attack and defense in the wars of the past, 
which were used by their ancient fathers. Frail, it is 
true, were many of the old cockades, and hanging almost 
in strings, many of the old coats and knee breeches, which 
have been guarded and protected so carefully for ages, 
but all this lent a charm and originality to the scene 
which is very seldom witnessed. 

In the procession also were hundreds of the primitive 
implements of war. The bows and arrows, the sling 



109 



Prague ancient 
center of barbarous 
priesthood. 



shot appliances operated by heavy machinery for the 
propulsion of cannon balls before the invention of pow- 
der; the old sabres and flint-locks and javelins, which 
in the wars past have been actually used by their ances- 
tors, were not the least among the interesting sights. 
There was, however, one dark spot upon this brilliant pic- 
ture: the Hungarians, though the larger half, and per- 
haps the richest part of the empire, did not participate. 
To this we have before alluded and will not repeat it here. 
It was this omission, no doubt, that caused the aged 
emperor, high in the esteem of his loyal Austrian sub- 
jects, great sorrow. 

On our way to Carlsbad, we stopped at Brilnn, an 
interesting place, celebrated for its factories and its com- 
mercial activity. A few miles from here lies the little 
village of Austerlitz. We visited by carriage this field, 
riding something over fifteen miles through a most beau- 
tiful, cultivated and fertile country. In preceding chap- 
ters allusion has already been made to what we saw and 
discovered here, and hence its repetition is uncalled for. 
From Briinn we proceeded to Prague, the old, historic 
and classic centre of the German arts, sciences and liter- 
ature. One of the oldest, if not the oldest, universities 
in Europe is here situated, and to this day it is ranked 
as among the most prosperous and influential in Europe. 

Here it was, that, when the Jews were sorely perse- 
cuted in and about Jerusalem that they first sought refuge 
in what to them then was the frontiers of western civiliza- 
tion. The first synagogue in Europe was built here ; it still 
remains, a small, dilapidated, but forceful reminder of 
the early devotion of the persecuted descendants of Abra- 
ham to the faith of their fathers. 

The great bridge Karlsbriicke, that spans the river 



Moldau, was built during the Middle 



Ages 



with the 



no 



money of a Jew, whose life was taken and his property 
confiscated for the simple offense of his unalterable faith. 

One of the numerous churches here is the Cathedral 
St. Nicholas, with expensive decorations, the largest in 
the city. This city, too, was the very centre and hotbed 
of priestly persecution. No place, it is said, in all 
Europe, had so strong a hold upon the civil law, and the 
enforcement of it, for the accomplishment of arbitrary 
ends by the priesthood, than in Prague, with the result 
that innumerable instances have occurred here where a 
sacrifice of human life in its public places has been most 
appalling. 

From Prague we go to Carlsbad, which is the most 
celebrated watering place in the world. During the time 
of the season, which is in July and August, it is said 
that no less than 75,000 visitors from all over the world 
are here, a majority of them for the purpose of drinking 
the waters and taking the cure ; while a very respectable 
minority are attracted to this beautiful place by reason of 
the social interest which attaches to it. At the springs 
in the morning, especially at the Midler, Briinen and the 
Sprudel, great processions of from five to ten thousand 
in line of gaily dressed women and neatly dressed men 
are seen every morning at these springs from seven till 
nine o'clock. To accommodate such immense crowds to 
drink the water, they have reduced the method of dis- 
tribution to a very effective system of several girls hand- 
ing from the spring itself the glass to the visitors as they 
move along in rapid succession one after the other. 

The drives and walks about Carlsbad are magnificent. 
There are over sixty miles of beautifully graded and 
sanded walks in the fields and on the mountain sides and 
summits, among the pine and hemlock groves, where 
thousands of seats have been constructed by the govern- 



From five to ten 
thousand in line, 
Carlsbad Springs in 
early morning. 



Ill 



ment at an immense expense. These all contribute to 
add to one's pleasure at this famous Spa, while the walk- 
ing exercise, which is probably more conducive to the 
restoration of the debilitated visitors than the water which 
they drink is much indulged. 

Prices are higher in Carlsbad than in any other water- 
ing place which it has been our privilege to visit, and in 
fact higher than in most of the metropolitan cities of the 
world. Every facility is here afforded for the pleasure 
and the health of its patrons. A marked feature of a 
visitation to Carlsbad by a stranger is that he is obliged 
to pay a kur tax of $6, if he remains more than one week, 
for the privilege of remaining there. This money partly 
is given to the government and partly used for the repair 
of the walks. 

We will now take our leave of Austria with many 
pleasant remembrances of our visits in that empire. We 
found the people to be uniformly courteous and possess- 
ing a pride of personal appearance excelling their neigh- 
bors to the north. 



112 



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CHAPTER IX. 
Germany. 

DRESDEN. 

E have crossed the German frontier and find 
ourselves in old Dresden, the capital of the 
kingdom of Saxony, and for centuries the 
residence of the Saxon sovereigns. In 
many respects this grand old city is looked 
upon as the art centre of Europe. It con- 
tains many statues, beautiful parks and public buildings. 
The museum is a very handsome edifice, and perhaps 
the finest example of modern architecture in the city. 
To the visitor it presents a peculiar appearance, being a 
wing of the Zivinger, which was constructed by a dis- 
tinguished architect about 200 years ago. We mention 
this museum because it is said to contain the most im- 
portant Dresden collections, and in the same is also the 
celebrated picture gallery, engravings and drawings. 
This gallery holds its place among the most famous of 
the world, as containing some of the finest and most 
valuable collections. The pride of the Saxons has been 
so great that for centuries they have expended great 
sums to acquire numerous masterpieces at different times, 
among which we find the Sistine Madonna, as far back 
as the middle of the eighteenth century. 

The Italian painters are very numerously represented 
here, among others being Raphael, del Sarto and Uber- 
tini. Around the Sistine Madonna, the production of 
Raphael, may at all times be seen in this gallery a large 
crowd of curious observers, in the small room in which 



Dresden Galleries 
contain many 
masterpieces of 
the world. 



113 



it is placed. If a visitor did not know the picture, he 
certainly would be justified in the conclusion that from 
the curiosity manifested in its inspection that it must be 
one of great merit and distinction. The magnificence 
of ths picture consists principally in the tender beauty of 
the soul expression of the Mother and the Child, com- 
bined with an affectionate look, typical of that high ideal 
designed by the artist. It is not so much in the surround- 
ings of the figures, nor in the coloring of the same which 
most highly commends it, but the chief interest attaches 
to the luscious eyes, so beautifully portrayed, of Mother 
and Child. Here we find also pictures by the great Vene- 
tian masters and some by the Spanish school, while the 
Dutch and the German masters are quite numerous. 

Dresden porcelain, as is well known, ranks also among 
the finest in the world. Curious enough, the principal 
shops are found in the little side streets where a stranger 
would imagine that nobody would do business except 
fruit vendors or shoemakers. Entering one of these shops 
by accident one day, we were surprised to see on exhibi- 

«j \.u~.,^ tion in a moderate sized room more beautifully and ex- 
artistic Saxon shows ■> 

his fine wares. quisitely painted porcelain than in any museum which 

we had visited. This shop was owned by a thrifty Saxon, 
and he personally superintended the manufacture of every 
piece of porcelain in his small works in the rear of his 
house, from the clay to the finishing fire. This place was 
typical of at least a dozen more in the same street. 

Fine music, too, is here found in Dresden. It is a 
favorite place of resort of Americans in the education 
of their daughters to acquire proficiency in the arts of 
painting and in music. 



114 



BERLIN. 

From here we go to Berlin, the capital of the Ger- 
man Empire. This city contains about two millions of 
inhabitants and possesses a commercial character of im- 
portance second only to New York and London. 

Everybody has heard of the Unter der Linden, but 
one is disappointed in seeing it, because its merit is 
unequal to its reputation. Berlin has many streets, to 
me, more attractive than this. The city is essentially a 
German one, strongly exhibited on every hand. It is a 
city of great distances. You are always looking for cen- 
tres here, and never finding them. The stores are scat- 
tered, there being no specialized localities of trade, such 
as are found in New York and London. Automobiles are 
a positive nuisance, there being more to the block all 
over Berlin than in any city I have seen. Municipal 
government does not seem to interefere either with speed 
or odor. The result is a constant clattering of wornout 
machines amidst continuous clouds of smoke. As per- 
mitting the automobile nuisance, Berlin takes the first 
place. Its great means of transportation are with foggy 
automobile trucks, both merchandise and passenger, and 
this, too, adds to the disagreeableness of this feature of 
Berlin life. 

It has one magnificent park, ornamented by an unu- 
sual amount of beautiful white marble statuary, leading 
from Unter der Linden to the Reichstadt. When beau- 
tiful statuary in Berlin is alluded to, it must of neces- 
sity refer to the statuary in its park, for elsewhere it 
certainly is below the average found in other cities of the 
world. Its situation is not picturesque. We do not find 
in it any of those fascinating structures of antiquity, or 
even of the medieval period. There is one thing that can 
be said architecturally, however, in its favor, as also can 



Merit of Unter der 
Linden not equal to 
its reputation. 



115 



Architectural 
appearance of 
buildings subject 
to municipal 
control. 



be said of all other European cities; the construction of 
its buildings, their size as to height and architectural 
design are the subject of municipal control. By this we 
do not mean an inefficient, passive control, but an active, 
aggressive supervision, with the result that we find the 
sky lines right and nothing repulsive to the eye in the 
general outward lines and appearance of its streets. In 
this one respect all American cities are sadly deficient. 
We have grown so fast that now, I am afraid, that it 
will be long before municipal regulations will, by requir- 
ing uniformity of construction, remedy the serious defects 
already apparent in the architectural appearance of our 
cities. 

The buildings most frequent in Berlin, as is well 
known, are the University buildings, formerly the palaces 
of Prince Henry, the Royal Library adjoining the palace 
of the Emperor William, opposite which is the famous 
opera house, and the Royal Palace, an imposing struc- 
ture. Visitors are permitted to visit this palace at stated 
intervals, and they are well repaid for their time and 
trouble by the exhibition therein of a beautiful picture 
gallery ; then there is the Royal Museum, the finest build- 
ing in Berlin, in the Greek style, and approaching which, 
you go up a broad flight of steps. Its vestibule con- 
tains marble statues of celebrated Germans. The collec- 
tions in the old museum in the gallery of antiquities were 
principally obtained by Frederick the Great, who pur- 
chased at an immense sum, it is said, the collection of 
Cardinal Polignac at Rome. 

We might go on enumerating the various places of 
prominence in Berlin which we visited, but to no useful 
purpose. The Broadway of Berlin is Freidrich Strasse, 
which runs nearly due north and south, and it is the 
longest street, being, however, only two miles in length. 



116 



Imperial suburb. 



Americans are always looking for a Broadway or Fifth 
Avenue in the great cities of the world, but we never 
find them, nor anything anywheres approaching them in 
size and importance. 

From Berlin, the beautiful excursion was taken to 
Potsdam, a suburb of the city, about as far as Yonkers 
from New York. This place is beautiful in the extreme. 
It is where the emperor's palaces are located and where 
they have been for many centuries of the reigning sov- 
ereigns of Germany. 

Here we find the old palace of San Souci, built by 
Frederick the Great, the favorite resort of that, the most 
distinguished of German monarchs. It stands on an emi- 
nence, commanding as beautiful a view, perhaps, as any 
palace in the world. The orangery of this palace — in 
the Florentine style — is celebrated for its beauty. We 
also find at Potsdam the new palace, founded by Fred- 
erick the Great, in 1763, after the termination of the 
seven years' war, and is now the summer residence of 
the present emperor. The apartments are decorated in 
the cold and unattractive German style, and not as beau- 
tiful as those of San Souci. 

LEIPSIC. 

From Berlin we proceed to Leipsic, a more interest- 
ing city historically, and beautifully architecturally. Leip- 
sic, like Dresden, has for centuries been a great centre 
of German art and science ; it contains one of the greatest 
universities in the world. It has unquestionably the fin- 
est palace of justice to be found anywhere, while its 
parks are indescribably charming. 

Leipsic is the centre of the book trade for Germany, 
it having, to its credit, it is said, the largest book pub- 
lishing house in the world. Here is to be found many 

117 



illustrations of the processes used in the production of 
books, from the earlest time to the present, including 
binding, engraving and cuttings. A very unusual 
exhibition. 

It was here, in 1813, that one of the greatest battles 
in history was fought, between the French, under Napo- 
leon, on the one side, and the Germans and the Russians, 
on the other. The French were in possession of the city, 
their chief division being about a mile to the east of the 
walls; the enemy was to the west and south of the city. 
The numbers opposed to the French were two to one, and 
it is said that this is the first pitched battle in which the 
great Napoleon did not win a decisive victory, or at 
least, met with a repulse. A great monument is being 
erected by the Germans to commemorate the battle ; when 
completed, it will not commemorate the first defeat of 
Napoleon, as, from a military point, all authorities are 
agreed that it was a simple repulse — a drawn battle, as 
it were. Sufficient ground, however, exists to justify an 
unfavorable construction by the Germans upon the issue 
of the conflict, and thus they are willing to erect the 
monument. 

Near by is an interesting museum, containing all sorts 
of relics of the battle. 

We now leave Leipsic and proceed to Weimar. 
Visiting the country Among the most interesting places visited in Germany 

of Luther. is what is called the Lutheran country, in which are the 

cities of Weimer, Ehrfut and Witenberg. Weimer, as 
is well known, was the literary centre of Germany during 
the eighteenth and most of the nineteenth centuries. It 
was here where the great Goethe lived and wrote and 
made it famous. Schiller, his companion and literary 
star, also lived here, both under the patronage of Augus- 
tus, the Duke of Weimer, whose grand old library, con- 

118 



taining over 200,000 volumes in a wing of the beautiful 
antiquated palace, attests the literary taste of its former 
occupant. 

At IVitenberg is seen the old church still standing with 
its pulpit, in which Martin Luther preached, and upon 
the doors of which old relic of worship the celebrated 
Thesis were published, fastened there by the hand of 
Luther in defiance of papal authority, that the benighted 

but honest neighbors, might read in plain language the Most famous tree in 
doctrines of the Bible and its teachings ; also that light history, 
might be shed upon the true principles of piety and Chris- 
tian religion. Here, too, is the old oak tree, under which 
the Pope's bull was burned. This tree, by this act, was 
made the most famous in the world, and we take pleasure 
in introducing herein a drawing of its venerable appear- 
ance. The old university in which Luther taught, lectured 
and wrote, is still here, and the house that he occupied, 
with its old garden, in which he walked forth, com- 
muning with his God and preparing those masterpieces 
of religious thought, which are the foundation of the 
third greatest Protestant religion in Christendom, from 
a numerical point of view. 

At Eisenach we found a beautiful city, ensconced 
amidst soft mountain scenery and in a richly cultivated 
country, over which the ancient Wartburg Castle towers 
in the distance, with its beautiful lines. Here, too, we 
are still treading in the pathway of the young Luther, 
while studying for the priesthood, and are able to visit 
the old house in which he, nearly four hundred years 
ago, boarded with Frau Cotter, whose beneficence en- 
abled him to continue his priestly studies. The room in 
which he studied and slept is still there, with some of 
its old furniture. The castle upon the hill where he was 
protected from his enemies by his friend, the proprietor 

119 





mm 

0g& 



Famous tree under which Pope's Bull was burned. 

Wittenberg. 

(Prom our original photograph.) 
(See page 119.) 



of the same, contains his room, overlooking a broad ex- 
panse of beautiful country, with many relics. of his. 

Ehrfut we found to be a splendid city. The old pal- 
ace in which the International Congress of Europe was 
held, presided over by Napoleon the Great, still exists. 
It was at this celebrated conference at which all the 
princes and sovereigns of Europe attended to agree upon 
terms of peace and to settle troublesome questions then 
agitating the continent. 

Heidelberg is overrated as a university town. Greater 
universities exist in Leipsic, Dresden, Konigsburg and 
many other cities in Germany, more ancient, better organ- 
ized, larger and with a superior list of distinguished 
patrons to their credit, than that of Heidelberg. 

It is the savage indulgence in the sword contest of the 
students which has directed the attention of the world 
to it as a university, more than its learning, a practice 
not indulged by the others. The old castle there is beau- 
tiful, but not more so than a hundred others of similar 
character in the German empire. 



Contest of the 
sword, not learning, 
has given Heidel- 
berg its reputation. 



121 



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CHAPTER X. 

Poland. 

HIS country, during the middle ages and up 
to within a comparatively short period ago, 
was one of the most powerful and largest 
kingdoms of Europe. By reason of its 
internal dissensions its strength became 
less, and gradually it fell pray to the 
rapacity of its Russian neighbor on the north and east, 
the Germans and Austrians on the west and south. It 
finally lost more than half of its territory, and in the end 
was reduced so low in its power of self defense that its 
individuality as a kingdom was lost, and it is to-day but 
a menial province of the Russian Empire. Of all the 
countries of Europe, Poland has the saddest history. Its 
people, whose national pride excel any other except the 
Greeks, have suffered political humiliation such as has 
befallen no other modern power in the world. On visit- 
ing old Warsaw, once the capital of the kingdom, I saw 
on every hand evidence of its former glory in the 
innumerable palaces now disused. That it has a great 
history is apparent also from the presence there of many 
old statues in bronze and granite of its patriots, states- 
men, literary men and warriors. Copernicus is honored 
with one of the most beautiful monuments, and the old 
house in which he lived, and the observatory in which he 
surveyed the heavens, for his astronomical maps are 
pointed out, a sketch of which is herewith presented. 
That it is now the home of some of the greatest musical 
artists of the age is proved by the fact that here Pader- 
ewski and the De Reskeys reside. 



Poland, once 
greatest of king- 
doms, now menial 
province. 



123 



Family name ending 
in "ski" indicates 
noble origin. 



Paderewski has erected the Hotel Bristol, which ranks 
among the best in Europe. He gives its management 
much personal attention, and he has endeavored to pop- 
ularize it on the lines of an American hostlery, and has 
succeeded. The old capital has a population of about 
800,000, its modern half being most attractive. The 
theatres are run on the restaurant cafe plan, never seen 
elsewhere. It costs nothing to enter, but the fee is large 
enough after settlement of the refreshment bill you are 
expected to incur, service upon you being at your seat. 
The number of Jews there is not larger than in any other 
city of like size in Europe. Somehow a false impression 
prevails that a Pole is a Hebrezv. This is not so. The 
native Pole is a Christian. They are proud of their 
ancestral blood. The family names ending in "ski" 
indicate noble origin. It was the habit of its kings when 
creating nobles of the realm to add a "ski" to their names 
as the title of their nobility. Not a Hebrew in Poland 
or elsewhere has a "ski" to his name, except as it has 
been added in the modern change of his name. The 
greatest sight I saw when there was a division of 5,000 
Cossack cavalry marching through the streets. Mounted 
on prancing horses of great size, they presented a picture 
original and interesting in the extreme. Rather stout 
in stature and light in weight, they were positively the 
most hideous exhibition of savage nature and appearance 
as a body of men I ever witnessed. Their skins were 
bronzed to a copper color by continuous exposure to the 
sun without hats, while their hair was cropped short, 
except over their ears great bunches of it allowed to 
accumulate, so that they looked like horned devils, To 
intensify still greater the weirdness of the scene, each 
company of one hundred sang a Russian war hymn, end- 
ing with Cossack yell. As soon as the first company fin- 



124 



ished, the second would take it up throughout the line, 
thus making it a continuous song as the division passed 
a given point. 

The Cossacks, I learned, are the backbone of the 
empire; the ones most relied upon to faithfully obey the 
imperial command and influence the balance of the army 
to follow suit out of sheer fear of their prowess. They 
are born and reared in a remote northern province as a 
warlike race, having been used to the hardships of the 
battle field from choice of occupation for centuries. 

We cannot refrain from stating the surprise experi- 
enced when I observed the change that has taken place 
here in the last one hundred years in some of its palaces. 

In one I visited, there was still the old structure, not 
in ruin, but converted to business uses. It was this pal- 
ace in the city which Napoleon occupied when here. At 
the great entrance then stood sentinels in heavy armor 
with cannon and sabres of bristling steel. Now, however, 
this has changed, and instead of steel moulded into gun 
and sword, guarding its portals, we found these imple- 
ments of war displaced by the plow and harrow, tools 
of the soil. The court is occupied now by merchants 
following the peaceful occupation of commerce and trade, 
not by troops of war. The harrow was of the LaDow 
"disc" pattern, invented by a distinguished American 
inventor, whom it was my privilege once to represent 
professionally in a legal contest over its mechanical con- 
struction. 



Cossacks a warlike 
race, backbone of 

Empire. 



125 



Lucerne favorite 
center of visitors. 



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CHAPTER XL 

Switzerland. 

N Switzerland we find that we are in the 
international European summer resort, 
whose art it is and has been for centuries, 
to entertain visitors in hotels and pensions. 
The Swiss have acquired the highest per- 
fection of their art, unequalled by any com- 
petitors in the world. Attracted here by its magnificent 
scenery of mountains, snow and lake and its cool and 
healthy climate, strangers will repeat their visits to this 
country, more than any other place in Europe. Lucerne 
seems to be the centre to which the great masses grav- 
itate, because of its matchless beauty and the unequalled 
facilities that it affords for the entertainment of visitors 
of all classes. The Ax en Strasse, along Lake Lucerne, 
is justly celebrated among the finest, if not the most 
beautiful drive in the world ; cradled, as it is, along the 
base of a great mountain high up above the lake, there 
is a constant panoramic scene before the eye of towering 
mountains covered with eternal snow and ice, with their 
sloping sides, cultivated fields, while at your feet is a 
soft and placid lake which in natural charm defies descrip- 
tion. From this point many excursions are made, being 
accessible to mountain railways, by which one is able 
to scale the summit of Mt. Pilatus, looming up over two 
miles and a half, and the Riggi, nearly as high, over the 
tops of which a panoramic scene in all directions is pre- 
sented, surpassing in interest and grandeur anything in 
Europe. Upon its streets everybody you know in Europe 
you meet, as it seems to be the one common assembling 



126 



ground. In a short interval I had the pleasure of meet- 
ing a United States Senator, some prominent acquaint- 
ances west of the Mississippi, a distinguished citizen of 
Albany, whom it has been my pleasure to know for years, 
some friends from the East, not heard of before, in years, 
a distinguished presiding justice of the Appellate Divi- 
sion of the Supreme Court, with his charming wife, beau- 
tiful daughter and other members of his family, and 
many more. Those whom I have mentioned, I have taken 
the liberty of doing so, simply as illustrating an interest- 
ing fact in the life of Lucerne, to wit: that it is one of 
the most cosmopolitan places in Europe and a place where 
everybody goes. 

Interlaken, too, is a popular place, not so large as 
Lucerne. It is the centre, however, for excursions to 
finer scenery, prominent among which in the immediate 
vicinity is Grindezvall and Lauterbrunen. Here the great 
"Eiger," the "Jung" Frau" and the "Bright Horn" are 
interlinked, the mammoth Leviathans of the Alps, whose 
feet are stockinged with the softest verdure and whose 
heads are hooded with eternal caps of snow and ice. The 
beautiful Lauterbrunen valley, unquestionably the finest 
in Europe, four miles long and half a mile wide, walled 
up on its sides with mighty precipices over half a mile 
high, down which tumbles eighteen cascades, banked up 
to the south with the snow of the "Bright Horn," car- 
peted with velvet green, presents a charm of natural 
scenery never to be forgotten, when once observed on a 
bright summer's day. Other places of interest were 
visited, such as Muren and Zermatt, great places each, 
partaking of the general features of wild Swiss scenery. 
The unusual pleasure of a ride over the Simp Ion in a 
carriage cannot be passed by without special notice. Un- 
like the others, the Simplon presents softness of scenery 



Lauterbrunen, 
gem of Swiss 
scenery. 



127 



on the Swiss side and awful grandeur on the Italian, 
surpassing in combination even the Spleugen. 

Here, too, we find an exhibition of the resourceful 
genius of Napoleon, for he it was who built this great 
road, contending upon the Italian side against apparently 
impossible obstacles, greater perhaps than any that have 
as yet challenged, but not frustrated the skill of the engi- 
neer. Far up on, and out of the towering cliff of granite 
as we emerged from these terrible walls of rock, a sombre 
figure with folded arms was cut in bold relief, and frown- 
ing with imperial majesty down upon us from the dizzy 
heights above. It was the master builder of the Simplon, 
whose civic fame is equal to his military glory. 



128 



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